The News You Need for Feb. 22
Deuces are wild today, but you're number one with us. Dig in to today's news to learn about leadership, compliance, and other goings on from WorkersCompensation.com
Understanding Self-Leadership: A Foundation for Everyday Impact
Sarasota, FL (WorkersCompensation.com ) -- Self-leadership is a concept that has evolved. It suggests individuals can shape their behavior and outcomes through self-influence and self-direction. This principle empowers people to take control of their actions, decisions, and ultimately their lives. Strategies like self-observation, self-goal setting, and self-reward can help individuals achieve personal and professional goals. Self-leadership is about leading oneself proactively and positively, even in the face of challenges.
What is Self-Leadership?
Self-leadership refers to individuals' ability to influence themselves to establish the self-direction and self-motivation needed to perform better. Self-leadership has its roots in intrinsic motivation and self-influence, and it empowers people to take proactive control of their actions and attitudes, especially in achieving personal and professional goals. It is an essential personal development and organizational management principle that encourages a mindful, disciplined, and driven approach to personal growth and leadership. Self-leadership is vital for everyone, from front-line employees to top executives, and emphasizes the significance of self-awareness, self-regulation, and the ability to lead oneself before leading others. In the context of Workers' Compensation, exploring self-leadership across various roles can provide valuable insights and strategies for enhancing personal efficacy, resilience, and performance in navigating the industry's complexities.
Where Did This Originate?
Self-leadership is a concept developed in organizational psychology and management that helps individuals improve their self-influence and self-direction. This approach has gained popularity as it empowers individuals to take charge of their personal and professional development. It involves setting and achieving goals, managing one's behavior and emotions, and fostering a proactive attitude toward life's challenges. Self-leadership is often attributed to researchers like Charles C. Manz, who introduced the term in the context of business and management studies, emphasizing the importance of self-influence over traditional hierarchical leadership models. It has become mainstream as its principles have proven effective across various domains, including education, healthcare, and personal growth. Self-leadership encourages individuals to succeed by cultivating self-awareness, self-motivation, and self-regulation.
Embracing Self-Responsibility: A Pillar of Self-Leadership
Self-responsibility is a vital aspect of self-leadership. It involves acknowledging oneself as the primary agent of change in personal and professional life. Taking responsibility for one's decisions and actions is crucial for personal growth and success. This principle empowers professionals to actively seek solutions, take initiative, and embrace the consequences of their actions. It fosters a culture of ownership and proactive problem-solving in the workplace. In Workers' Compensation, self-responsibility encourages adjusters, attorneys, and other stakeholders to manage cases diligently, continuously improve their skills, and contribute positively to the outcomes of their clients.
The Role of Self-Accountability in Fostering Self-Leadership
Self-accountability is an essential aspect of self-leadership. It involves being responsible for personal and professional results by setting clear goals, establishing measurable performance standards, and regularly assessing progress toward these benchmarks. This aspect of self-leadership is crucial for upholding integrity and striving for excellence in one's work. In the Workers' Compensation ecosystem, self-accountability ensures that all stakeholders, like adjusters, nurse case managers, and risk managers, are committed to delivering the highest service standards. This commitment, in turn, enhances the recovery journey of injured workers and streamlines the compensation process.
Why Should You Care?
Self-leadership is an essential skill that goes beyond individual success. It plays a significant role in both personal and professional life. It equips individuals with the necessary tools to navigate life's complexities and helps them to become resilient against adversity. Moreover, it enhances one's ability to achieve their set goals. By developing a proactive mindset, self-leadership empowers us to anticipate challenges, strategize responses, and continuously self-improve. It is an invaluable skill that can help us achieve personal satisfaction and growth while contributing positively to our workplaces and communities. Understanding and applying self-leadership principles can transform how we approach obstacles, turning them into opportunities for growth and learning.
Breaking Down Self-Leadership Across Professions
Self-leadership is a critical aspect that goes beyond personal growth and significantly impacts various professions in the workers' compensation sector. Our upcoming series will focus on self-leadership and its relevance to roles such as adjusters, attorneys, employers, injured workers, nurse case managers, human resources, and risk managers. Using self-leadership principles, we will provide insights into how these professionals can improve their operational efficiency and job satisfaction. Our objective is to examine how self-leadership can be applied to each role, providing actionable strategies to enhance professional performance, recovery outcomes, and career fulfillment. Our comprehensive approach aims to highlight the multifaceted benefits of self-leadership across the workers’ compensation ecosystem and demonstrate its pivotal role in personal and professional development.
Stay tuned as we explore the self-leadership principles for each key role in the workers' compensation community. We aim to provide actionable insights and strategies that empower you and your colleagues. This series will help you navigate challenges and opportunities in the Workers' Compensation landscape, fostering a stronger sense of self-leadership. We will examine the application of self-leadership across various roles, including adjusters, attorneys, employers, injured workers, nurse case managers, human resources, and risk managers. Each installment will offer tailored insights and actionable strategies to enhance personal growth, professional efficacy, and workplace culture. We invite you to join us on this journey as we cultivate robust self-leadership across the Workers' Compensation community. By doing so, we want to create a landscape where individuals can navigate challenges with resilience and confidently seize opportunities. This series promises to inform and inspire a revolution in self-leadership, transforming how we approach our roles and impact the lives of those we serve.
Performances After Valentine’s Day Attack
Manhattan, NY (WorkersCompensation.com ) – A medical student who performs with his electric cello in the subways of New York City said it’s too dangerous to continue.
Iain Forrest, a performer who is part of the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s Music Under New York program, was playing his cello before subway patrons at the 34th Street-Herald Square Station when a woman hit him in the head unprovoked.
Video of the attack showed the woman with a scarf covering her face, leaning nonchalantly against a pillar. At the time, Forrest was playing “Titanium” by Sia. Unprovoked, the woman then rushed up behind Forrest and grabbed his metal water bottle from the floor and hit him in the head. Video of the attack showed Forrest slumping to the ground as the woman ran away.
“I couldn’t quite get my bearings and it was only when I saw my metal water bottle rolling around on the ground and I saw the crowd’s face — in awe, disbelief and shock — that I realized, I think someone just smashed the back of my head with my metal water bottle,” Forrest, 29, told the New York Daily News.
Spectators in the crowd gathered to listen to Forrest came to his aid and showed him video of the attack on their phones.
“I was able to see for the first time, wow, this person did in fact smash my head with a bottle,” Forrest recounted. “An MTA worker then gave chase to them throughout the subway station and afterwards they told me when he came back that she had fled from the station aboveground.”
Officials said the woman changed clothes as she ran away and ducked into a nearby Macy’s.
Forrest, who had been part of the Music Under New York program for seven years, said the attack, and another assault in Times Square in May, meant the performance was his last for the foreseeable future.
“I’ve performed at Radio City Music Hall. I’ve performed at Yankee Stadium, Madison Square Garden. Those are great. But there’s always something exciting about a spontaneous performance in the subway that fans catch,” he said. “So it does kind of break my heart that this is something that has to stop indefinitely, barring some sort of systemic change with protection for performances in the subway.”
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In May, a man beat and choked Forrest during his Times Square show and broke a part of his cello.
Police said Rendell Robinson, 40 attacked Forrest and tried to steal the money donated to Forrest as well as his instrument. Robinson was arrested and charged with robbery. His case is still pending, police said, and he is still being held at Rikers Island.
“I’ve got a wife. I’ve got a family and friends that care about me and I don’t know what they would do if I was gone,” Forrest said.
After the incident with Robinson, Forrest was assigned an NYPD officer to watch him during performances. The extra protection made him feel safe, he said.
“That was one or two months that they did that. Nothing really funny happened. But then that was apparently temporary and it was only protecting me. It wasn’t protecting other musicians from the program,” Forrest said. “And then here we are months later, this attack happened again to me, so at this point, I just made the very tough decision.”
The attack was one of several that have happened in the subway as violence against workers and others inside the subway system increase.
On Wednesday, a 58-year-old transit employee saw a 25-year-old homeless man sleeping on a bench in the Wall Street train platform around 6 a.m. When she tried to wake him, the man hit her in the face. Later, when a 34-year-old bystander saw the attack and tried to intervene, the homeless man hit him in the face as well. Both the MA worker and the bystander were taken to New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital with minor injuries.
Forrest was treated at the scene for his injuries, and police released a photo and a video of the attack on Friday, asking anyone with any information to call Crime Stoppers.
What Do You Think: Did Probation Officer Lose Job Because She Left Work for Embryo Transfer?
Lebanon, PA (WorkersCompensation.com ) An employee claiming FMLA retaliation may continue with her lawsuit, even if her employer points to a valid basis for firing her. However, the employee will have to first show that her employer’s stated reason for terminating her is not genuine, but rather just a cover for unlawful reprisal.
That issue arose in the case of a juvenile probation officer for the Court of Common Pleas of Lebanon County, Pa. The officer took intermittent leave at various times between January 2017 to May 2017 for infertility treatments. The goal of these appointments was for her to eventually undergo an embryo-transfer procedure.
The P.O. received a positive annual review in April 2017. The review, however, reminded her to remain diligent regarding keeping her case files up to date. Supervisors had issued her a written warning in 2014 because she wasn’t updating her files.
In May 2017, supervisors reviewed case files for several probation officers, including the P.O. They completed the review on May 26, finding that the P.O. was returning to her old habit of not updating her files, which were purportedly rife with errors. The report found, for instance, that she failed to properly record most of her visits with juveniles.
The P.O. underwent the embryo-transfer procedure on June 10, 2017. She returned to work a few days later. On June 30, the state fired her, citing the issues with her files. The P.O. sued the state, arguing that it was retaliating against her for taking FMLA leave.
The court explained that once an employer provides a legitimate reason for terminating an employee, the employee has the burden of establishing that that reason was a pretext for retaliating.
Was the state’s excuse just a cover for retaliation?
A. No. The employee had a history of not updating her case files and was engaging in those errors once again.
B. Yes. The fact that she wasn’t fired in 2014 suggested that the 2017 termination was just reprisal for her medical leave.
If you selected B, you agreed with the court in Sinico v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, No. 22-2998 (3d Cir. 02/09/24, unpublished), which held that the probation officer failed to show her termination was pretextual.
The court rejected the P.O.’s argument that because she received a positive annual review in April 2017, it was implausible that the state decided to terminate her for work-related reasons a few weeks later, in June 2017. “[T]he case-file review that led to [her] termination was dated May 26, 2017, more than a month after the annual review was finalized,” the court wrote.
The court pointed out that the case file review revealed that the officer failed to heed the reminder in her annual review to keep accurate records. While she reverted to her old habits, according to the file review, there was no reason to assume that the manager who conducted her annual review weeks earlier knew that. In fact, the comments on the review, which praised her improved record-keeping, while warning her to continue with that practice, indicated otherwise.
“[I]f anything, the annual review suggests that [the state’s] concern about recordkeeping deficiencies was not pretextual because managers continued to remind [her] about the importance of keeping timely and accurate records even when they praised her,” the court wrote.
Finally, the court was unpersuaded by the offier’s argument that the state didn’t fire her in the past when it found issues with her files. The fact that her employer gave her a second chance, the court observed, didn’t show that its stated motive was inauthentic, especially given that the errors were continuing.
The 3d Circuit affirmed the District Court’s ruling that the P.O. failed to show pretext and thus could not proceed with her retaliation claim.