Team working is key to delivery of great patient services in the NHS. At the same time many people in leadership and management roles fail to utilise anything approaching the potential of a teams.
Working with over 500 doctors, here are 5 of the most common team working challenges facing doctors that were highlighted.
Challenge 1: Strong Personalities
Doctors like many professionals are highly capable, driven and motivated. There are some very strong personalities too who can be difficult to manage or get on board.
With strong personalities it is always important to involve them and at the same time be willing to assert yourself when that is appropriate course of action or approach.
Challenge 2: Reaching Consensus
Most doctors work in multi disciplinary teams with different professional groups. All have great insights to offer and this can be an asset or a liability.
To overcome the risk of never reaching a decision, agree a decision making process and follow that process.
Challenge 3: Continual Changes To The Team
Doctors, especially those going through training rotate about every 6 months. Every time a team has a change the dynamics change.
Make sure that you recognise that you have to work on integrating a new team member and that the team is essentially re-forming.
Challenge 4: Sharing The Workload Appropriately
Team members work at different speeds and pace. Trouble is that if you are not careful certain individuals will do a disproportionate amount of work. Short term this might not be a problem and it can create resentment long term.
Be alert to overloading a few who always deliver.
Challenge 5: Dealing With Conflict
In any team conflict and tensions are going to arise from time to time. How you respond to team conflicts is important.
Generally it is best to first understand another person’s point of view. Asking questions and listening is one of the most simple or effective ways of dealing effectively with conflict.
The Reality: Team working is key to service delivery, performance and great patient care. Getting the best from teams makes a huge difference to what you achieve individually and collectively.
Goals and Achievements help healthcare organisations to get great results through teams. To learn more please contact us.