Health and social care management

Leading Teams in Health and Social Care

Task 1 Understanding the characteristics of effective team work

Team developmental activities are mandatory in the health and social care organisations where it is the responsibility of the leaders and managers to ensure good team work at the workplace so that the health care professionals can serve the patients with high quality care and support. The health and social care service are complex where there needs high cooperation and communication. The leaders try to enhance cooperation through team developmental activities where the major characteristics of team work in the health and social care organisation are such as a specific goal, mutual trust and accountability management, defining clear roles and responsibility of the team members, equal scope, support and honest communication. In this case, the workplace culture and the internal activities of the National Health Service or NHS will be evaluated, where through team developmental activities, strategies to mitigate team challenges and further improvement in leadership and management will be discussed further for understanding the internal practice of the health care leader and the management team of the NHS.

1.1 Describing theories of team development

The team developmental activities are important in the health care management and NHS is a leading organisation in the UK to provide high quality social care and public health care services. Tuckman’s team developmental theory is effective to follow suitable steps of building good team work at the NHS. As per the theory, there are stages which are forming, storming, and norming, performing and adjourning. In the forming stage, there are unclear purpose, guidance and directions and the storming stage is effective to resolve the internal conflicts and provide variety of purpose. The norming stage refers to the activities of providing clear roles and responsibilities to the health care workers for enhancing their performance as a team member in the organisation. There is clear vision and purpose in the organisation and continuous support and cooperation further helps the health and social care workers in the NHS to fulfil their roles and participate in the organisational activities efficiently (Pandya-Wood, Barron and Elliott, 2017). These are the major stags as per the Tuckman’s team developmental activities, which are beneficial to develop good team work and lead the health workers towards achieving the future success of NHS.

On the other hand, Belbin’s team role is another important theory through which it is possible to understand the exact roles and responsibilities of the health care workers in the NHS. Through the team roles proposed by Belbin’s, it is easy to identify team roles of the members at the workplace. The major team roles are such as coordinator, plant, and resource investigator, team workers, monitoring evaluation, specialist, implementer and complete finisher. The organisational leader at NHS is efficient to develop good team work for better management and practice and in this regard, the Belbin’s team role is effective to provide clear roles and responsibilities of the health care workers at the organisation. The health and social care practice at the NHS is complex phenomenon where it is necessary for all the health and social care professionals to cooperate with each other and contribute positively in the NHS for treating the patients with high quality treatment and efficient support to each patient (Cable and Graham, 2018). In this regard, the NHS is efficient to support the team members including the doctors, physicians, surgeon, psychiatrics, nurses, health care workers, social workers to work collaboratively and develop a good team through coordinating the activities, monitoring the workplace, resource investigating activities, team working practice and high communication in the workplace.

The theories of the team developmental activities are hereby beneficial to support the organisational leader and management team to work collaboratively and fulfil the roles and responsibilities of the health care workers efficiently. The team developmental activities in NHS further provide a scope to the leaders to lead the workers and develop strong bonding so that they are able to work together to treat the patients efficiently by utilising the organisational health care equipment and quality care (Moberly, 2017). On the other hand, the organisation NHS is able to apply the team developmental activities through enhancing the internal communication and developing good organisational culture to support the workers and lead them successfully towards achieving the objective of the firm by providing high quality health and social care services to the patients across the UK.

1.2 Suggesting strategies to overcome common team work challenges

In the health and social care settings, there are several team work challenges which are such as absence of team identity, difficulty in making decisions, poor communication, lack of cooperation as well as inability to solve the conflicts, lack of participation, lack of creativity and ineffective leadership. These are the major team work challenges which may deteriorate the organisational performance as a whole (Pearson et al., 2017). In this regard, there are strategic planning which are effective for the organisational leader at NHS to overcome the challenges and create good workplace for improving their long run performance and productivity as a whole so that it would be possible for NHS to maximise health and wellbeing of the social communities by providing high quality treatment and continuous scare to all the patients, the major strategy of the leader to enhance cooperation and communication is to encourage open conversation. Positive body language and group working activities, where the team members are encouraged to work collaboratively, developing partnership working practice can be possible for the members to treat the patient (Collins, 2018). There is partnership working practice with clear roles and responsibility in which the leader at NHS is able to improve accountability and cooperate with the staff for building strong bonding, so that every member can rely on each other and perform together.

Moreover, for conflict resolution, the leader of NHS tries to empower each staff in the organisational decision making practice, where equal opportunity to the team members is possible. The leader tries to empower the staff and encourage their creativity to make good decision. Continuous support to them, directing them with adequate information and organisational data as well as transparency in decision making behaviour are effective to resolve the internal conflicts and lead the members towards achieving the future success of NHS (Anderson, 2018). For better communication, the leader of NHS also implements ICT or Information Communication Technology, which is beneficial to enhance one communication and it further helps to create partnership working practice with high cooperative working practice. These strategies are effective for the NHS to lead the staff members and develop good partnership working practice so that they can work as a team and treat the patient with high quality care and treatment.

1.3 Evaluating the impact of leadership styles on a team

Leadership styles are also important for ensuring team development activities in the health and social care management. The transformational leadership style is suitable for the health and social care organisations to support the social workers and the health care professionals for better performance and productivity. In the transformational leadership style, the leaders encourage, inspire and motivate the employees in the health care workplace in order to innovate and create change which would be helpful to grow and reshape the future success of the company. The transformational leadership style helps the leader of NHS to create good organisational culture with harmony and freedom to work at the workplace (Lumbers, 2018). There is work life balance in the workplace of NHS and the leader tries to encourage the staff members for better creativity and innovation. It is another strategy of the transformational leader to inspire the staff and encourage their creativity so that they are able to work innovatively and serve the high quality care to the patients. Continuous inspirational motivation, individualised consideration and intellectual stimulation are effective and these have crucial impacts on the working practice at NHS, in which the workers try to work collaboratively and follow the leader’s information to perform better with creativity and technological innovation.

In addition to this, the situational leadership style is also effective where the leaders try to support the care givers for better team work and enhance good culture at the workplace so that they can fulfil their roles and responsibilities. The situational leadership style is also effective where the leader of NHS focus on coaching leadership style. As per the coaching leadership style, there are high direction and highly supportive behaviour of the leaders which protects the employees and lead them towards achieving the future success (Roberts et al., 2018). The NHS leader tries to support the employees continuously with resources, IT framework and information data base in NHS so that they can successfully manage the patients across the UK. On the other hand, the leader is also efficient to direct them with strategic planning so that they can maximise their performance and productivity. Hereby, the leadership styles at NHS are effective which have crucial impacts to support the team workers and develop collaborative workplace where the doctors, nurses and surgeons as well as physicians and social workers try to communicate and cooperate for developing care plan for the patients to treat them with high quality care.

The situational leadership style and the transformational leader at the NHS as well as strong management team are able to lead the health care staff towards achieving the success in near future. The suitable leadership style further help the organisation to create good workplace culture with harmony and freedom, where the leaders are efficient to create values for the staff and encourage their creativity for better performance. Continuous motivation and empowerment of the staff are possible under suitable leadership style of NHS. Additionally, the organisational leadership style has crucial impacts on the team developmental activities, where the team members can be able to improve their participation and understand each other for working collaboratively (Tweed et al., 2018). There is high cooperation, good internal communication and continuous improvement among the staff where they try to share their knowledge and skill set with each other for better productivity at the workplace to treat the patients with proper diagnosis, medicine and latest treatment. Hereby, the suitable leadership style is helpful at NHS to lead the staff and retain the experienced members in the health care institution to maximise the quality of their care where NHS would be able to provide high quality treatment and continuous social care to all the patients efficiently by utilising the organisational resources and clinical skill of the health care professionals.

1.4 Assessing the importance of accountability and trust in a team

Accountability and trust are important aspects of team developmental activities, where the team embers contribute positively to create a good team work at the workplace. Accountability mainly gives the people a greater sense of ownership over their working practice in the organisation. Improvement of delegating responsibility for the functions in the workplace is possible if there is accountability. Apart from that, accountability is effective to provide clear roles and responsibilities to each member in the team and it further helps the members to fulfil their own responsibility and utilise the organisational resources successfully (NHS England, 2017). The feel of greater responsibility and empowerment of the members are possible at the workplace. The leaders of NHS and the management team focus on developing accountability and trust among the team members for better team work activities. The NHS services require team working activities, where all the health care professionals including doctors, nurses and social workers in the UK are able to cooperate with each other and share their knowledge and skill to treat the patients with high quality care the sense of accountability is hereby important for the care workers at NHS to support each other and identify own roles and responsibility at the workplace.

It further motivates them to perform better and utilise the organisational resources as well as own skill set for maximising their performance and productivity in long run so that they can contribute positively in the NHS to achieve future success. On the other hand, trust is also important for better team working activities, where the individuals in the team can rely on others and make a collaborative decision (Cassarino et al., 2019). If there is trust, the team members and social workers in the NHS can communicate openly and enhance group discussion, where they can believe each other and share their knowledge for better performance. Hence, mutual trust is important to enhance understanding among the team members as well as support each other’s in the team for working collaboratively. For high communication and internal collaboration in the team of NHS, trust is also important, where it is possible for the care givers to perform as a team and develop suitable care plan for the patients, which is the major aim of NHS to enhance the health and wellbeing of the social communities across the UK. Hence, trust and accountability are important for better team developmental activities at NHS.

1.5 Comparing methods of managing conflict within a team

The methods of conflict resolution are effective at NHS where the leader and the management team are efficient to support the employees at NHS. There are different conflicts resolution activities which are such as enhancing internal communication, providing equal opportunity to the health care professionals, as well as improving cooperation, providing freedom and harmony at the workplace for better work life balance. The strategies of conflicts resolution are effective for the NHS to direct the staff and lead them efficiently towards achieving the NHS aim and objectives. Through providing technical training and cultural training program, it is also possible to manage internal conflicts, where the leader of NHS continuously encourage the staff for enhancing communication as well as improve partnership working practice in order to treat the patients successfully (Cassarino et al., 2019). The NHS leader and management team also implements the Equality Act 2010 in the workplace for providing equal scope to each health care professional so that the leader can engage the staff and give them equal chance to tale active part in the organisational decision making practice. Through continuous support and communication, sharing knowledge and skill with each other as well as providing clear roles and responsibilities to the staff are effective tactics of NHS to resolve internal conflicts and improve trust and mutual understanding among the health care professionals, where they can participate with their full capabilities and contribute in partnership working practice of NHS. NHS aims at maximising health and wellbeing of the social communities across the UK and leading the health care professionals is the major responsibility of the leader so that the team members can work efficiently to treat the patients successfully.

Task 2 Reflective account

2.1 Explaining the links between individual, team and organisational objectives

The team members are concerned about the organisational aims and objectives and there is strong linkage between the individual goal, team aim and organisational objectives. It is important to achieve the common goal of the health and social care organisation. As a health and social care staff, it is the responsibility of the member to identify the individual aim as well as also contribute in achieving the team goal further. There is strong linkage of the individual, team goal and organisational objectives, the major individuals aim are such as,

• Maximising personal knowledge within the health and social care organisation
• Improving clinical expertise and technical skill
• Participating in organisational decision-making practices
• Ensuring personal and professional development
• Fulfilling individual roles and responsibilities in the care home

These are the major individual aim of the staff, as a health and social care professional, where the organisational leader and management team try to cooperate with the staff for fulfilling the personal objective of the staff. On the other hand, the team goals are such as,

• Achieving the common objective of the team
• Enhancing partnership working practices
• Contributing positively to the organization
• Maximizing team performance
• Fulfilling the roles of the team in the workplace of the care home

On the other hand, the objectives of the organisation are such as,

• Maximizing the overall performance and productivity of the firm
• Achieving higher efficacy in treating the patients with high-quality care and the latest treatment
• Maximizing the health and wellbeing of social communities
• Promoting partnership working practices
• Supporting team members for better contribution in achieving the organizational aim

These are the organisational objectives. Hereby, it can be stated that, there is linkage among the individual aim, team goal and organisational objectives of the health care home, where the major goal of the organisation is to maximise health and wellbeing of the patients, which can be achieved through providing high quality treatment and care. For this, team goals must be achieved where the each tem perform better to support the patients and it is linked with the personal and professional skill development of the team members (Kuluski et al., 2017). Hence, the individual aim, team goal and the organisational objective in the health and social care settings are linked with each other where the team members and managers of the care home try to collaborate with each other for maximising the objectives of the organisation though fulfilling the individual aim and team goal.

2.2 Explaining factors which influence forward planning in the team

There are several factors that influence the organisational leader and management team to develop further planning in the team so that it would be possible to run the business efficiently and fulfil its objectives. The major objective of the care home is to maximise the health and wellbeing of the social communities, through providing treatment and continuous care (Joynes, 2018). In this regard, the external factors influencing the decision making practice of the nursing home in the society are such as latest treatment, quality standard in the health and social care setting proposed by Care Quality Commission or CQC, technological advancement, recent health care trend towards online database management system and future trend of health care. These are the major factors affecting the organisational decision making planning in the team, where the team members try to take active part in the decision for developing creative decision (Sharp et al., 2018). This further influences the organisational leader and the health care professionals to cooperate with each other and develop good decision in the team so that they can utilise latest technology, health care equipment and clinical expertise to provide high quality care to the patients.

On the other hand, there are several internal factors in the care home, which have also influential impacts on the organisational decision making practice in the team. The factors are such as internal communication, workplace culture, and efficacy of the staff, equipment in the organisation leadership style and financial capability of the firm. These factors influence the leader to make planning in the team for supporting the social communities with high quality treatment and care. The culture of equal opportunity for the staff, engagement of all health care professionals and accountability and trustworthiness at the workplace are effective for the leaders to take good decision and resolve internal conflicts to increase staff participation in the decision making practice in the team (Stephan et al., 2018). Hence, the external and internal factors influence the organisational leader in the health and social care sector to make creative decision in the team and engage the health care professionals for better performance and productivity. The health and social care organisation is responsible to make good and creative decision in the team for enhancing innovation in patient management and fulfil the organisational aim in long run (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2019).

2.3 Explaining areas of individual and team responsibility in achieving objectives

The objective of the care home can be achieved through fulfilling the individual and team responsibility. The major individual responsibility in the nursing home is such as,

• Taking care of the patients
• Providing a secure place for patients to stay
• Securing personal data of the patients
• Providing timely care and treatment
• Ensuring personal and professional development

On the other hand, the team responsibilities at the care home are such as,

• Developing care plans for the patients
• Maximising partnership working practices
• Enhancing communication and ensuring accountability
• Providing continuous support to the patients
• Utilising healthcare equipment and organisational resources to treat patients with high-quality care

The above mentioned roles of the individuals and the responsibilities of the team are important to be fulfilled in order to maximise the organisational objectives. The individuals in the care home are responsible to take care of a particular patient efficiently by providing time to time service and continuous support (Stephan et al., 2018). They are also responsible to show their creativity at the workplace and enhance personal and professional development for better management of the patients. On the other hand, the team responsibilities are also mandatory to be fulfilled successfully, where it is possible for the team leader to achieve the future success and fulfil the organisational objectives of serving the patients with high quality care and treatment. Hence, both the individual and team responsibilities are mandatory to be achieved efficiently in order to contribute in the care home. The team members try to collaborate with each other and enhance partnership working practice in the care home so that they can achieve success and fulfil the aim of the organisation which is to maximise the performance of the hospital in long run by serving the patient with continuous support and latest treatment (Field and Brown, 2019). The leader at health and social care organisation is hereby responsible to support the health and social care professionals and lead the staff through continuous improvement and skill development.

2.4 Explaining aims and objectives to promote a shared vision within own team

The aim of promoting shared vision at the health and social care organisation is to create good care plan for treating the patient with high quality treatment and care. The objectives of enhancing the shared vision are such as,

• To enhance organisational performance
• To engage all the health and social care professionals
• To maintain equality in the workplace
• To empower the staff members of the care home in the decision-making practice
• To enhance collaborative working practice

Through promoting shared vision, it is possible for the health care leader and the management team to enhance partnership working practice, in which all the health care professional can take active part in making good decision for the hospital or nursing care home. On the other hand, the health care team can get equal chance to share their creative solutions and participate in the organisational decision making behaviour. Hence, shared vision in the team is beneficial to fulfil the aim and objectives of care home, where the leader is able to lead the team members towards achieving success (Smith et al., 2018). Shared vision can be developed through talking with others and develop one to one communication as well as provide all the necessary information about the organisation, facilitate collaborative learning and working practice in the care home and engaging the employees in the working activities. These are the major practices, through which the health care management team is able to develop shared vision, where each member can get equal scope to participate and make a good and creative decision for the organisation to ensure high performance and productivity.

3.1 Monitoring progress in achieving team objectives

It is important to monitor the team performance so that it would be possible to evaluate the progress of the employees in the workplace of the health care home and it is also possible to evaluate the leadership style where the leaders are able to lead the employees towards achieving the success through creating good working culture and partnership working practice. Monitoring the workplace can be done though watching the employee’s contribution in the workplace where performance review is mandatory for the health care staff at the care home to evaluate their performance and further improve their skill and knowledge to achieve higher by fulfilling their roles and responsibilities (Kim and Beehr, 2020). Monitoring the employees on a daily basis is hereby the responsibility of the supervisor at the care home for encouraging them to perform better and contribute positively for better achievements. Helping the employees with self-monitoring assessment, reviewing he workplace, asking for better solution at the workplace as well as engaging them in the supervision technique are the major practices through which it is possible to monitor the performance of the employees and lead them efficiently for fulfilling the aim and objective of the care home. In this regard, the leaders and the health managers try to cooperate with the health care professionals and give them feedback on their working practice, which are also beneficial for the employees to perform better and maximise their productivity at the care home (Smith et al., 2018). In addition to this, continuous monitoring process, reviewing the performance of the employees as well as arranging training and developmental programs are also the activities of the care home through which the leader is able to monitor the workplace activities and continuously support the workers for better performance.

3.2 Providing feedback when underperformance is identified

Providing feedback to each care professional in the care home is the responsibility of the health care leader and management team in order to maximise their performance in long run. The issue of underperformance, lack of efficacy and lack of engagement in the workplace can be mitigated through continuous monitoring and providing feedback to the staff members. Hence, through arranging group discussion, the leader can engage the staff and provide open feedback in the team which further motivates the care workers and help them to identify the working errors and inefficacy of the staff in the workplace (Smith et al., 2018). Moreover, providing continuous feedback through training and developmental program as well as monitoring the working practice on a daily basis is also suitable for the staff to get effective solutions for maximising their performance in long run. Hence, on the job feedback as well as arranging group discussion for providing general feedback are important for the health care leader to encourage the staff and lead them efficiently towards achieving the aim of the care home. Riving messages, follow up assessment focusing on the aim of the organisation, as well as continuous support and direction are also other ways to provide authentic feedback to the staff members so that they can maximise their efficacy to provide high quality health and social care services to the patients.

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