Chris Payne CM6

1. Discuss the typology of teams in health care. Provide an analysis of each element.

Function or Purpose

What does the team do?  Why does the team exist?  Does this team need to be a work team, support team, project team or management team?  What kind of decisional authority does this team have?

Decisional Authority

Does this team have the final say in the decision being made? Does it function in a way that it  makes recommendations to those who make the decision?  The time and work that goes into making either decisions or recommendations should be respected to avoid frustration.

Temporal Nature

How permanent is this team?  Processes must be established quickly due to the nature of the amount of time the team will exist.

Time and space

Does the team exist in the same time zone as all the members?  If not, concessions must be made to include people if the team is a virtual team.  Where and when will they meet?

Diversity

A diverse team considers things like age, gender, job position, consumer and professional considerations and cultural diversity.

Accountabilities

Is the team internally or externally accountable, or perhaps both?  Well functioning teams should have members accountable to each other.

Membership Fluidity and Boundary Permeability

Do members cycle in and out?  A downside may be that each new person has to be oriented to the group, taking time.  This method can be advantageous as it can bring in new ideas and ways of thinking.

2. Using the model of team effectiveness, describe each element.

Performance

How well does the team perform relative to its stated purpose for existence?

Member Satisfaction

Is it a team that people want to be a part of?  Do members feel like they’re making a difference?

Quality of Work

More than just getting it done, is the work done well and communicated effectively?

Capacity for Sustainability

Is the team buried in work?  Can they keep up the pace over the course of time?

3. What is context? What is environmental context and describe it in health care?

Context is the culture, environment or space in which something happens.  Example:  It’s difficult to understand a nurse’s recommendation that a family allow the patient to die unless one understands the context of the person’s health history and potential future.

Environmental Context

Teams operate and exist inside a larger organization which has values that effect the decisions that are made and the way they’re executed.  For instance, when a team decides that charts need to be filled out a specific way that perhaps the E.R nurses understand, but really have no relevance to the ICU nor is it something they have experience with, they’ve created a layer of frustration with no communication or even representation when it effects their ability to feel like they’re being successful at their job.

Intergroup relationships need to be understood and accounted for as well as the organizational culture.

4. What is a context analysis? Using the context analysis model, provide an example in health care.

Will – Consists of personal incentive structures and Organizational values and priorities

Space – The formal and informal institutional contexts
The historical Context
The social context

Capacity – Organizational Management
Strategic connections
Access to financial resources

Example within Healthcare – A family with 8 kids has decided they want a pet.  The first survey they sent out had them pick a category that most appealed to them from the choices of Fish, Reptiles or Mammals.  In the box nest to their choice, they were asked to write what animal they preferred and how they would care for it.  When votes were tallied, they found that the kids wanted a puppy and were willing to feed, water and walk the dog.

5. What is the Nominal Group Technique? What is the Delphi Technique? Provide examples of both.

Nominal – Team members present their ideas, and then the best ideas are selected based upon a ranking system selected by the entire group.

Example – Group members are tasked with picking colors for the logo.  10 members submit 6 colors and then each individual picks 3 colors and ranks them in order, with 3 being the best and 1 being the 3rd best.  When all of the numbers are tallied, blue had the highest number.

Delphi – A questionnaire is designed and sent out with a ranking system, but also includes an opportunity to make comments about that particular section.  The ratings are then compiled and questions and concerns added to a new questionnaire in which respondents determined the areas they deemed most important.  Once the second questionnaire is sent and turned in, the focus is narrowed further by other respondents’ answers.

Example – A family with 8 kids has decided they want a pet.  The first survey they sent out had them pick a category that most appealed to them from the choices of Fish, Reptiles or Mammals.  In the box nest to their choice, they were asked to write what animal they preferred and how they would care for it.  When votes were tallied, they found that the kids wanted a puppy and were willing to feed, water and walk the dog.

6. What are the stages of team development?

Leadership – The ability to influence team members.  Some teams have formal and informal leaders and while formal leaders may have the ability to wield rewards and sanctions, some informal leaders may be the primary influencers.

Communications – Team leaders are usually best positioned to help manage communications within a team and between the team and external teams and other entities. This includes process behaviors and interaction strategies.  Includes ambassador activities, task coordinator activities and scout activities.

Decision making – Most teams will be involved in decision-making, but not all members.  In a multidisciplinary research team, decisions will be based on consensus and compromise.  Challenges will be “social loafing”, dwelling on common information and groupthink.

Learning – Activities carried out by team members through which a team obtains and processes data that allow it to adapt and improve. Learning in teams is greatly enabled by a climate of psychological safety.  In health care, knowledge is constantly changing, so having a learning team is essential to providing top-quality care.

7. Answer the questions on p. 154 (Questions 1-3)

Question 1. – Turnover amongst team members presents the biggest challenge in sharing information learned in the field and orienting the new members to the culture.  Collaborative meetings, mentoring sessions and a psychologically safe culture should keep the door open to onboarding the new team members quicker

Question 2. – I think having consumers involved in this particular case is very important in understanding how to overcome cultural barriers to better health care.  Team members can most effectively utilize the consumer’s knowledge by going to their home and village and gaining greater understanding of the obstacles they must overcome.

Question 3. – The particular obstacles  to sustaining the improvements will likely be regular access to ongoing health care, particularly antenatal care for parents and children, and prenatal care and regular checkups.  If the improvements decline, it will likely be because the first wave of education for currently pregnant and new parents fail to get passed on to the next generation.  It will remain important for education to not just be filtered down to those who need it now, but also continue to those who need it later.

8.  What is the gist and database? How can you apply it?

The database or the verbatim is all the data.  Its numbers, words and symbols, and the gist is one line or a summary.  According to Bunch’s FTT (Fuzzy Trace Theory), data and detailed information is essential but to communicate and get the idea to stick, it must be boiled down to its tag-line or big idea.

An example would be reading about the process of how to remove a window regulator in my old car.  The book would say, “Remove the door panel”, and that would be gist of what needs to occur to access the window regulator.  But in order to get the database or verbatim, I would go to the section that tells me what screws to remove and what clips need to be popped out in order to remove that door panel.

9. What did you learn from watching The Strategic Leader in a VUCA World?

Probably the most impactful thing he said was that we can say a lot of things in a meeting that may have meaning to us, but if the people we’re talking to don’t have the database, then we’ve said a whole lot of things without saying anything at all.

Another impactful moment:  Great strategic leaders can communicate memorably and meaningfully in high leverage moments.  As a communicator, this is so important.

10. What is the difference between a Soldier and Scout Mindset?

The soldier, embroiled in battle has a specific task to accomplish and is convinced that their side can win, influencing the judgement calls he or she makes.  This is considered ‘motivated reasoning” and information contrary to our desired outcome become the enemy and we must shoot them down.

A scout makes an honest assessment of the battlefield, regardless of whether or not it falls in favor of the side they want to win.

11. What did you learn from watching and reading Why you think you’re right, even when you’re wrong?

As someone who views things through the lens of “nothing is perfect”, this concept of motivated reasoning puts to paper why I often feel alone whenever people are having heated political debates.  When I see people going at each other because they’re so convinced of their party’s talking points, it kind of grosses me out.  I also find tremendous value in questioning why I think the way I think, and doing my best to not stop the learning process in any area of my life.

I find that this topic helps me have grace for other people and ultimately, grace for myself.

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