Top 5 Mistakes Peer Support Specialists Have Made in Working in Healthcare: #4 Feeling That They are Entitled to be Influential

Peer Support Specialists are the newest addition to many clinical teams.  They are being added to a wide range of programs because of their knowledge about the experience of illness, treatment and recovery and their willingness to talk about their experience.  Their entry into existing clinical teams and programs has had some bumps, primarily due to the failure of those settings to plan for this new group of people.

Some Peer Support Specialists have added to the challenge.  Some talk and act as though they are entitled to influence the team and the work because of their role. Examples ---  I’ve seen new Peers making broad suggestions about how to change a program and then getting angry when other staff don’t accept their suggestions.  They voice their frustration in terms of the team “not being willing to listen to a Peer” or “not being ready for a Peer”.  Sometimes this is true --- but often their suggestion was simply not useful.  Another example is when a Peer criticizes the team or the program before they actually have worked in the program long enough to understand how it works and why it works that way.  The underlying logic is something like “Because of my lived experience and/or my role as a Peer Support Specialist, my views are right.  I am entitled to your trust and you should listen to me”. 

There are several problems with this logic:

• Being a Peer and having lived experience provides a new perspective and new insights into how clients experience services and programs, and so Peer Support Specialists often do have valuable suggestions about how programs can improve.  However --- being a Peer does not guarantee that your insights will be good.  Program staff would be foolish to trust a new staff member to change their program without being convinced that the idea is worthy.  Being a Peer entitles you to be part of the conversation, but does not entitle you to dictate the conclusion.

•  In general, people don’t respond well to any message of entitlement.  Unless you have specific authority to tell others what to do, you are not officially entitled to dictate changes to anyone.  Most clinical settings will be open to discussions about change, but they will expect that the ideas must earn the buy-in of the team, and that the program leader, who has official authority for decisions, will have the final say in any program changes.  Peers who communicate a sense of entitlement will only increase resistance to their ideas and will undermine their standing in the group.

•  Programs and clinical services have a long history of how they evolved into the form that they currently take.  Program staff often know the history and why the current program looks the way it does.  Whether they are Peers or any other profession, new members who offer quick recommendations for changing things before they fully understand the programming, are often seen as being disrespectful to the team.  “How can they know what changes we should make if they don’t understand why we do it this way in the first place!”.  In peer counseling conversations, you want to start by listening and asking questions before you start giving advice to clients.  The same is true of your interactions with your program and colleagues.  Listen and inquire before making suggestions on changing the program.  You may be entirely correct about the changes, but you need to earn the opportunity to recommend them by listening and showing that you hear and respect that the program has a history and reasons for the way it is. 

Strategies for battling entitlement:

1.      Remind yourself about the expertise and experience of the other team members.  Be alert for the common natural trap in which we underestimate the value of others experience while overestimating the value of our own experience.

 2.      Remind yourself about the history of the programming and the fact that the current programming reflects both the best of efforts of prior staff to make the best program, as well as cultural and professional trends that may need to change, but have had an influence.

 3.      Always start with curiosity and listening.  Seek to fully understand why things are the way they are.  Your experience as a Peer does offer you a unique perspective, but it also creates some gaps in your knowledge – gaps that can lead you to make misguided recommendations.  Take your time and learn before recommending.

 4.      Recognize that you are always earning the right to persuade others.  This is true of clients and of team members.  You earn the right to influence others by taking time to listen and understand them and whatever problem you are trying to address.  Efforts to earn the right to persuade are often seen by others as evidence that you respect them.  It makes them more open to you and your suggestions.

5.      Remind yourself about situations in which others have taken an entitled stance toward you.  What was your response?  Do you want to generate that response in your colleagues?