SAQ Team assignment 2019 Version Essay

309 Understand how to establish an effective team

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Understand how to develop and maintain effective working relationships.

Explain the benefits of effective working relationships in developing and maintaining the team.( Describe at least three benefits) (20 marks)

We take team work very seriously in our surgery. We feel with effective team work the surgery will be a happier place to work and run more efficiently. Being part of a wider team is advantageous the the surgery as most of my reception team are multi trained, this enables them to be able to help out other roles within the surgery.

A team is a group of people who have been put together and guided by their manager to work towards the same goal, even though every member of that team will have different strengths and weaknesses together they will succeed in their final goal.

Having a good team work ethic will enhance the feeling of belonging, this is really important in the work setting as we spend a lot of our day in work.

If you are part of a well lead team you will gain the feeling of high staff morale and commitment from all involved. This also then leads onto a willingness to help each other and gives you the feeling of job satisfaction. If something goes wrong we all speak about it as a team and try to iron out any issues or misunderstandings from instructions or tasks set. I also feel that for effective team work this must generate from the top and lead by example, if you have a manager or supervisor who is not being involved and just ordering people it gives out the wrong message about working as a team.

If we have that team ethic within our surgery it reduces the staff turnover as people are happy within their place of work, and the sickness rates are lower.

I feel we are very good as a place of work for communication, this is also an major part of team work, for example any complements we get in are circulated to each and every member of the surgery. This will then be commented on by individuals. This then gives the team such a boost and feeling of appreciation and belonging.

One thing that I really believe in is:

“The one thing that is important is that everyone has to want to work together for teamwork to be effective”

ILM Managing people with confidence Day 5, page 6

1.2 Describe behaviours which could develop and maintain trust at work (Also give examples of behaviour that can undermine trust) (16 marks)

Behaviours that could develop and maintain trust at work are treating and showing someone with the respect in which you would like to be treated with and shown in return.

You need to make sure that there is transparency within the team this can be done by sharing the same information with all the staff and not just some of them, which can be done via email, verbally or in team meetings. Owning your mistakes and not leaving it to all the team to pick up and resolve any faults that you caused and not putting the blame onto anyone else within the team. If your team has been empowered to work unsupervised the team will also develop trust with the management and Partners within the practice.

Feeding back any conflict that has happened within the team will also develop trust as the team will feel like they are being told everything that has happened and are not being left out. Treating everyone in the team the same and making sure there is no favouritism will also develop the trust at work, as you will be seen to be fair and the team will gain respect and confidence for you. Showing to your team that you are committed and loyal to the tasks that you have set this will develop and maintain the trust within the team. By showing a win win mentality and prove to staff that you are willing to listen and cater for their needs as well as your own will develop the trust that they have for you. In order for you to be trusted in the workplace you need to be honest and trustworthy.

There are also factors that can damage the trust within the team one of these is gossiping amongst each other and not sharing the truth with everyone. Being unreliable can also have a major impact on teamwork this may be done in a number of ways either by not turning up to work which means that other members of staff are left to cover the workload, or by not completing the task that has been set, or not giving a full handover of shift which then has the impact of unfinished tasks and goals.

1.3 Explain the role of communication in developing effective team working (20 marks)

Communication plays the biggest part in developing effective teamwork because if there was no clear communication between the team then they wouldn’t know what they are expected to do. The communication can be given in more than one way, verbally, email, and staff meetings.

It is important that staff have clear instructions so that all the team understand the objective and goals and what their role and responsibilities are in achieving those. Giving clear instruction will also reduce the risk of staff misunderstanding what is expected of them this will also increase the productivity of the team, and also checking that staff have understood the task by asking questions like “Does that make sense”, this then gives the staff the opportunity to gain clarity if needed.

Give regular feedback and praise to the team and getting feedback from the team will highlight any problems that they may have and help you resolve them quickly so that the work isn’t affected, and the tasks are completed. From feedback that you receive you can also see if your strategy is working if it’s the result is not what was intended then you will have to go back and change the strategy or the technique in which the staff are using to try and reach the goal this why I am glad of the protocol we use in sharing feedback and complements. If the strategy and techniques being used isn’t achieving the goal that has been set then you will have to go back and re evaluate from the start and see if what you have set is achievable this is double loop feedback. Making sure that through communication, regular meetings and appraisals training and development issues are highlighted and taken care off as soon as possible so that objectives can be met effectively and the moral is not effected, as this would have a negative impact on the team.

Good communication within the team will minimise conflict and strengthen relationships because there will be no need for gossiping as all the staff will know what is happening and have the working relationship to be able to help and advise each other with confidence. Also there will be a reduced grapevine culture as staff will all be involved and told everything they need to know about the task ahead and no one will feel like they have been singled out.

Understand how to build the team

2.1 Explain the differences between a group and a team (include the benefits of a team over a group and how this might impact upon work) (12 marks)

The difference between and group and team are a team is led by different people where a group is led by one person.

A group can be multiple people in the same room but wanting to achieve different goals and have different outcomes to any tasks set.

A team can be also in a room but all strive to have the same outcome and goals for the tasks, this is shown by them working together and being part of the overall team.

In a team everyone is responsible for the outcome and all strive to get this together. In a group each person is responsible for their own outcome and often tends to work alone to achieve this, even though the overall goal is the same. A team is focused on the goal altogether and will work together to achieve this, but a group is focused on their own goals. In a team they work collectively on the product giving all their ideas and comments in a constructive way, a group is individually working on the product. In a team you are focused on achieving the goal together which mean that you depend on each other to complete the task, in a group you are independent.

A team is a group of people who make different contributions towards the achievement of a common goal.

A group is a collection of individuals who co-ordinate their individual efforts.

We had a backlog of scanning in our surgery and only half the staff have undergone the training to be able to code the documents. My team all worked together by covering different work stations for e.g they would say “I will do your desk shift, and you can do some scanning”. This worked really well and my team achieved within a few weeks a zero backlog and all scanning is now on the day.

Once the new training is up and running for coding all the team will be trained, however my scanners have trained the majority of the team on non-action scanning which has made such a positive impact on the team.

Describe the stages of an established model of group formation (include where you consider your team to be and why) (16 marks)

A established model of group formation is the theory that Tuckman put forward. This is made up of 4 stages .3.

Norming

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2.

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4.

Performing

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1.

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Forming – This is when you initially have a group of people together and start to form your team. This can be a very anxious time for the individuals as they are now getting ready to form the structure of the team and get to know each other.

Storming – As the team is starting to get to know each other we can often see the views and opinions being put forward more openly. We can also experience disagreements and challenges being made at this stage.

Norming – This is the stage when the disagreements and hostility is starting to become more controlled. They are starting to develop the team and start to understand the importance of co-operation, and can plan together the outcome to the task. The behaviours and habits of a effective team will start to show.

Performing – This is when you have your Team and they are working together to achieve the best outcome. They are now working effectively and efficiently and supporting each other’s strengths and weaknesses. At this stage the Team will most likely be successful in achieving any goals set for them,

Explain how a manager could benefit from knowing team members preferred roles as defined in an established team role model. (Give three different examples) (16marks)

An established team role model is ‘Bellbin’ it was identified that there are 9 job roles that need to be filled to have a balanced team they are:-

Completer finisher

Specialist

Co-ordinator

Team worker

Implementer

Monitor evaluator

Plant

Resource investigator

Shaper

If a manager or supervisor knows the skill that each member of staff have got then they can identify any gaps that they have got and recruit an effective person to fill in the gap.

This should be clear to the manager/supervisor as this should be identified through appraisals. It is also important to know what staff skills you have got available so that you can utilise them and get the staff working to the best of their ability in the role that they prefer to work in.

We took part as a surgery in GP Productive Practice and along with our advisor developed a skill set sheet. I have found this really useful as It gives different analasys. The team member will code themselves as either, a trainer in that task, knowing the task, not knowing how to do the task.

This was developed as we found that not everyone needs to be a trainer in every task that the reception team have to do daily, as long as everybody is comfortable doing the task efficiently they can support each other. I now use this sheet before appraisals and also when training new team members. I find if we do this on a 2 weekly basis, it also gives them the confidence that they are learning and becoming part of the team.

It is more beneficial to the organisation if you have got a balanced team in place, as this will also strengthen the working relationships as the team will support each other.

The productivity of the team will increase if the roles have been identified. For example if the team is unorganised and are unsure about what they are meant to be doing and you have got a co-ordinator in your team then use them to organise the team effectively as they will drive the team and makes the correct decision to keep the team on track. If team member is struggling to complete work then a team worker will be useful as they will be able to identify and supportive of everyone else and rally around to make sure that the tasks that has been set gets completed in the right timeframe.

By delegating work it saves the manager time and leaves them to do other work, and asses if additional support is required. To delegate the work you could use the implementer within the team as they are reliable, systematic and you can depend on them to get the work done. If the practice has got a team and they are prone to making errors then a resource investigator will be beneficial as they are good at communicating, provide new information for the team and negotiate things that will help the team progress in an effective manner within the timescale set.

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