Effective Team Building

Team

- A small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they are mutually accountable.

Advantages of Teamwork

- Communication is central in effective interprofessional collaboration for efficient and safe delivery of patient care - Teamwork equalizes power through shared goverance (where power is more evenly distributed among the nursing staff and leaders, as an effective tool to promote empowerment, ownership of one's own clinical practice, and responsibility and accountability among nursing staff members) -Teamwork improves interpersonal relationships and job satisfaction. - Improve productivity, decreased absenteeism, and stabilized the workforce.

Semantics

- Multidisciplinary - Interdisciplinary - Transprofessional - Interprofessional

Disadvantages of Teamwork

- Teams may take longer to achieve a goal than would an individual. - Team members may have disagreements on the best course of action to take for a specific situation - Team process takes time, effort, and resources - Some team members may lack interest, motivation, ability, or skill to participate in the team process.

Adjourning Stage

- The fifth and final stage - Termination and consolidation occur in this stage - team closure process begins - team reviews their activities and evaluates their progress and outcomes by answering the questions: Where the team goals sufficiently met? Was there anything that could have been done differently? - The team leader summarizes the groups accomplishments and the role played by each member in achieving the goals. - It is important to provide closure and feedback regarding the team process to leave each member with a sense of accomplishment.

Forming

- The first phase - Occurs when the group is created and they meet as a team for the first time - Team members come to the meeting with zest and a sense of curiosity, adventure, and even apprehension as they orient themselves to each other and get to know each other through personal interaction and perhaps team-building activities. - explore the purpose of the team - establish team goals and expectations & set boundaries for the teamwork

Performing

- The fourth phase - group cohesion, collaboration, and solidarity are evident - personal opinions are set aside to achieve group goals - team members are openly communicating, know each other's roles and responsibilities, are taking risks, and are trusting or relying on each other to complete assigned tasks - the group reaches maturity - strengths: emphasis on maintaining and improving interpersonal relationships within the team as members function as a whole

Storming

- The second phase - As the group relaxes into a more comfortable team setting, interpersonal issues or opposing opinions may arise that may cause conflict between members of the team and with the team leader. - This may cause feelings of uneasiness in the group - conflict is a healthy and natural process of team development - Real teams don't emerge unless individuals on them take risks involving conflict, trust, interdependence, and hard work.

Norming

- The third phase - A feeling of group cohesion develops - Team members master the ability to resolve conflict - Team members learn to respect differences of opinion and may work together through these obstacles to achieve team goals - Communication of ideas, opinions, and information occurs through effective cooperation among the team members

Avoiding Groupthink

- leaders can encourage members to critically evaluate proposals and solutions - assign the same problem to two separate work teams - proactively engaging in a process of critical appraisal of ideas and solutions, and by understanding the warning signs of groupthink

Stages of a Team Process

1. Forming 2. Storming 3. Norming 4. Performing 5. Adjourning

Characteristics of a Successful Team

1. They have a definite purpose 2. They are comprised of health care professionals with varied skills and backgrounds 3. They communicate closely 4. They understand each other's roles

Avoiding Groupthink

Groupthink occurs when the desire for harmony and consensus overrides members' rational efforts to appraise the situation - it occurs when maintaining the pleasant atmosphere of the tam implicitly becomes more important to team members than reaching a good decision. - There is a reduced willingness to disagree and challenge others' views in groupthink - The consequences of groupthink are that teams may limit themselves, often prematurely, to one possible solution and fail to conduct a comprehensive analysis of a problem. - members may fail to review their decisions in light of new information or changing events - teams may also fail to adequately consult with experts within or outside the organization and fail to develop contingency plans in the event that the decision turns out to be wrong

Symptoms of Groupthink

The illusion of invulnerability Collective rationalization Belief in the inherent morality of the team Stereotyping others Pressures to Conform The use of mind guards Self-censorship Illusion of unanimity