Leadership can be described as the behavior of a person when directing the activities of a particular group toward a common goal in the scope of healthcare, the key aspects required of a leader in influencing the activities of a group and coping with any looming changes. Notably, most theories about leadership principles were not developed specifically to cover healthcare settings. However, they are dynamic, and most of them can be applied to medical setups. For example, the early Great Man theory assumed that some people do have traits that make them better leaders. In any organization, developing a team is a process that undergoes stages each with its merits. In most cases, any healthcare leader would need emotional intelligence, technological management skills, adaptive and quick decision making abilities, and powerful communication strategies to better manage a team. Leaders have a significant function in any team in healthcare, especially in strengthening the cohesion of its members to work towards achieving key goals while resolving issues that may make it dysfunctional.
Team Development
Just like any other firm, healthcare can adapt to the five stages of team development. Forming stage involves the initial step of coming up with the team. At this point, everyone is polite and pleasant to each other. Cooperation is at its peak. Certain things such as skills of members, project’s goals, timeline, rules, and roles of individuals can be set out ( Sims, Hewitt, & Harris, 2015) . The storming stage involves realization of characteristics of each person in the team as well features of tasks at hand. Just like a relationship in which partners thought at first that they are perfect, one becomes aware of flaws of the other and thoughts of termination or coping come into play. Therefore, conflicts and other problems become imminent, which every leader must accept and embrace as a regular occurrence.
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In the norming stage, members begin to notice and appreciate the strengths of members. Every person in the group starts to work as a cohesive unit. Each has a specific skill that the other person may admire, and this makes work more accessible ( Andersson, 2015). However, it may overlap into the storming stage as new tasks may arise with conflicts. People are prone to disagreement on various issues. Therefore, a leader in this group must be ready to solve disputes arising on multiple matters.
The performing stage is the fourth step in forming a team, and people can work without supervision as each person is aware of its tasks. Members of the group are motivated and confident in tackling the project at hand. People are most likely on the same page, and the work moves at full-speed ( Woodcock, 2017). The last stage of team development is the adjourning stage. It marks the end of the group after the project has ended. After disbanding the group, members are particularly remorseful at the thought of separation.
The Role of Leaders in Healthcare
A leader has a mandate to guiding employees as they work on a project. In this sense, they work to provide a timeline of project completion to attain the right goal. Therefore, they have to understand the problems in the group and find out the most viable solution to them. In the process, they organize members of the team to work on specific tasks to reach the target. Sometimes, they get involved in the actual process of working ( Delgado, & Mitchell, 2016). In the building process, a leader of the group has the mandate to create a strategy, offer training, communicate clearly, and monitor participation of each member of the group. Also, they can manage the flow of activities and listen to feedback from members to make appropriate changes.
Also, leaders have a role in energizing the members of the team. Energizing refers to motivating people to improve their output. Therefore, a leader in a healthcare setting can develop a ‘gratitude habit’ for members whenever they do something good. Leaders can create incentives for persons that hit specific set targets as this will encourage everyone to work hard. Secondly, they can come up with more meaningful feedback. Third, they can articulate challenge points to motivate the members to work hard toward a given success point. Last, promoting creativity in a team can encourage new ideas, thus new ways of accomplishing a task.
In any organization, healthcare included, a leader is expected to have specific leadership qualities to guarantee safe steering ability. Therefore, they are supposed to lead by example and demonstrate their worth through appropriate actions. Moreover, every leader should be in a position to offer guidance, create cohesiveness, and motivate others in the group. As a result, they would achieve loyalty in return for the qualities they express to team members
Dysfunctionality in a Team
Numerous reasons can spur dysfunctionality in a team. Leadership is one of the apparent reasons for the team to be dysfunctional. It means that the leader is not strong enough to identify objectives, maintain the focus of the group, and steer the members toward the goal. As long as a leader may be subjected to blame, team members sometimes may contribute to dysfunctionality ( Rocco, 2016) . In this sense, members may concentrate on personal glory while neglecting the team’s objectives. An actual team is that which is composed of members who are concerned with how they can assist the team to achieve its goals. Therefore, it is crucial for every member to put the focus on the primary objective rather than personal glory.
Another shortfall that may contribute to the dysfunctionality of a team is lack of a well-defined goal. A well-organized group often has correctly set out objectives as guidance, and they have a set roadmaps on how to reach there. Also, an organization may have an inequitable distribution of workload among its members ( Andersson, 2015). For example, a person may be loaded with lots of work, which then refutes the concept of teamwork. In this sense, it would be inappropriate and wasteful to have a team if one person is burdened with almost all the work to do. A successful will have all its members working together on specific roles steered toward set goals.
Lack of focus is another common problem. As members work in a group, they may get entangled in a disagreements that never end. Such discussions often deviate from the objectives and may result in low morale due to differences created between members. Also, the dysfunctional team may lack accountability. In this sense, members of the group may decide to push back deadlines or get involved in theoretical questions without having defined aims in mind. Lastly, lack of decisiveness may hinder the progress of a team. A team that cannot make a concrete decision is a victim of failure.
Solution to Dysfunctional Team
The first step is to select a leader who is decisive and robust enough to guide others during the project. In this sense, he or she will be in a position to make concrete decisions that matter to the entire team. Therefore, selecting a leader who is strong enough would be the best solution for indecisiveness. Also, one should be in a position to put much focus on the objectives of the groups to find the right answer to conflicts that may arise. Team members should concentrate on the key goals rather than considering personal aims.
Another method of solving dysfunctional teams is through defining roles for each member of the group instead of burdening one person with most tasks. Individuals should be in a position to work on various functions to accomplish the objectives of the team ( Woodcock, 2017) . Every individual in the group is essential and should be given space to work on a project. Besides, the team should put much focus on the objectives, and all the members should be mobilized to work on it. Otherwise, the team will fail.
Apart from putting the focus on the main aim, it is crucial to be accountable for things that matter to the team such as deadlines as well as avoiding unnecessary theoretical arguments. In conjunction with strong leadership qualities, every member should indicate proficiency to work within tight deadlines as well as preventing unnecessary focus on matters that do not matter as far as objectives are concerned.
Conclusion
On the whole, leadership qualities are crucial in the healthcare industry. The team development process in the medical sector undergoes the same stage as any other firm, and they perform identical functions. In summary, the steps include forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning stage. Sometimes, dysfunctionality may exist in a team. So far, the cause of such a scenario pointed out in the paper include leadership, team members, lack of defined goals, inequitable distribution of tasks, lack of focus, accountability, and indecisiveness. Some of the solutions suggested curbing the dysfunctionality of the team include a selection of a strong leader who can guide the team members properly, focused team members who know what they are doing, and evidence of proper objectives. Also, tasks should be distributed evenly to all members, and everyone should put the focus on the main aim.
References
Andersson, T. (2015). The medical leadership challenge in healthcare is an identity challenge — l eadership in Health Services , 28 (2), 83-99.
Delgado, C., & Mitchell, M. M. (2016). A survey of current valued academic leadership qualities in nursing. Nursing education perspectives , 37 (1), 10-15.
Rocco, T. S. (2016). A Reflection on Dysfunctional Leadership and Leadership Misplacement. New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development , 28 (3), 1-2.
Sims, S., Hewitt, G., & Harris, R. (2015). Evidence of a shared purpose, critical reflection, innovation and leadership in interprofessional healthcare teams: a realist synthesis. Journal of Interprofessional Care , 29 (3), 209-215.
Woodcock, M. (2017). The stages of team development. In the Team Development Manual (pp. 29-36). Routledge.s
