Team building

“common bond”
-team members meet each other
– learn about the task
– learn what their roles will be

“controlled pandemonium”
– team members learn how to work together
As the group relaxes into a more comfortable team setting, interpersonal issues or opposing opinions may arise to cause conflict between the members and different ideas compete for consideration

Conflict is healthy and a natural process

Must openly confront issues and conflict

Real teams don’t emerge unless individuals on them take risks involving conflict, trust, interdependence, and hard work

“mutual goals developed”
– team starts to work and act together
– roles evolve into helping the team succeed
– team members are more likely to express opinions

“able to work together”
– team members work hard toward goal
– members are flexible and help each other
– leader’s role is blurred-everyone is focused

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.

Teams collective effort – involves synergy

The storming stage is necessary to the growth of the team. It can be contentious, unpleasant and even painful to members of the team who are averse to conflict. Tolerance of each team member and their differences should be emphasized. Without tolerance and patience the team will fail. This phase can become destructive to the team and will lower motivation if allowed to get out of control. Some teams will never develop past this stage.

Scheduling
Respect for all schedules, support all members, develop consensus
Contacting each other
Form agreed upon process (i.e. email, phone, texts, etc)
Sharing workloads
Focus on team goal/s; even distribution of work
Open discussions/communication
Establish trust, be good listeners, able to take risks, feeling safe, maintaining respect for each team member
Leadership
Diversity of opinion is valued, ideas are accepted
Building consensus
Process for consensus or resolution is agreed upon; goals are identified

Promotes safe and efficient patient care delivery
Creates effective inter-professional communication
Equalizes power through shared governance
Improves interpersonal relationships and job satisfaction
Promotes free exchange of ideas
Promotes team cohesion & trust
Improves stability in employee satisfaction
Promotes mutual respect

May take longer to achieve a goal than one individual
Team members may have disagreements on the best course of action
Teams develop through time-consuming predictable stages of selecting the right members for the team, organizing team goals and manpower, and team collaboration
Some team members may lack interest, motivation, or skills to participate in the team process

Requires ongoing time and effort
Facility design allows for collaboration and interaction

Clear identification and ownership of the team goal
Clear definition and acceptance of each person’s roles and responsibilities
Clear delineation of team processes
Clear opportunities to build trust

Team size affects performance in that too few or too many affect performance
Communication and coordination problems increase with large teams
Smaller teams have lower incidence of social loafing
Individuals in large teams are able to maintain anonymity and gain from the work of the group without making a suitable contribution

Status is the measure of worth conferred on an individual by a group

High-status members initiate communication more often and are provided more opportunities to participate
A lower-status member may be ignored or intimidated
Status differences have significant impacts on patient outcomes
Need to build a trust-sensitive environmen

Proactive
Motivated
Take responsibility for one’s actions, decisions, and behavior
Seize initiatives to do whatever is necessary to get the job done consistent with correct principles
Well organize, facilitate, and manage the entire team
Must understand how various learning styles, cultural diversity, and personality differences play into the dynamics of teamwork
Have good communication skills, conflict resolution skills, and leadership skills
Focus the team on outcome improvement
Track reports
Recognize contributing members

In a group think situation, each member of the group attempts to conform his/her opinions to what they believe to be the consensus of the group.

Incomplete survey of alternatives
Incomplete survey of objectives
Failure to examine risks of preferred choice
Failure to re-appraise initially rejected alternatives
Poor information search / selection bias
Failure to work out contingency plans

Keep the group size small (6 – 10)

Politely and diplomatically discourage domination by a few individuals who may be more vocal and articulate in the group

Everyone gets an opportunity to express his/her own views (without intimidation)

Encourage participants to challenge the views of the others in the group

Bring the discussion to conclusion only towards end of the discussion on a particular issue only after every one in the group has expressed his/her opinion