Team work and effective communication have been ranked as the most productive aspects of any organization performance (Yukelson, 2013). The quality, nature and interaction among the team members matter when building a functional team. Effective communication facilitates collaborative decision-making in the organization as well. Apart from the above identified elements, an effective healthcare work group require more aspects integrated under team work and communication. Consequently, this manuscript presents a proposal on some of the elements that need to be integrated into the work environment to enhance effective performance. In addition, it identifies various strategies that need to be executed to improve communication and improve conflict solving techniques in the organization.
Synergy, team cohesion and a shared vision are the most important elements for effective team work (Yukelson, 2013). As a result, to build a cross-functional team, the organization need to instill that within the group. In order to produce desired outcomes in the healthcare group, identification of team building activities is necessary. It facilitates identification of various skills, efforts and interests from the team members that will help in developing a productive work environment. Team cohesion has numerous advantages including the implementation of better solutions through collaborative decision-making (Yukelson, 2013). Moreover, synergy promotes innovation and efficiency in the work environment especially in the healthcare workgroup.
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In order to build a functional team in the healthcare workgroup, the following objectives need to be implemented (Yukelson, 2013).
Appreciation and acknowledgement of the role played by the leadership by building confidence and mutual trust among the team members (Yukelson, 2013).
Enhance negotiation abilities and improve interpersonal communication.
Build team solidity by eliminating barriers in interpersonal relationships.
Promote strategic thinking in the leadership and among the team members.
Involve team members in collaborative decision-making and generation of ideas.
Therefore, to build cross-functional teams the management intends to consider various team aspects including leadership, team cultures, team cohesion, strategic thinking, response to change and interpersonal skills among the healthcare work group (Mickan & Rodger, 2010). The team intends to promote the following aspects.
Responsibility- Each team member is required to accomplish every task assigned to them and offer contribution as per the demand of health care.
Relationship- Team members need to share information, encourage each other, create good partnerships, share ideas and discuss numerous learning strategies.
Reliance- Team members are expected to aid each other to complete projects and in learning processes.
Respect- Team members are expected to demonstrate reverence to each other and towards the leadership as well.
Effective communication is significant for smooth operation in the healthcare work group. However, the following barriers to effective communication have been a threat to the overall performance (Mickan & Rodger, 2010).
Noise barriers and physical separation- Effective communication among the team members have been subject to distractions within the hospital due to movements. Some work from different work environments hence causing conflicts among the team.
Attitudinal barriers- This barrier results from misunderstandings among the staffs in the work group. Consequently, there has been poor means of consultation among the team members, which has led to conflicts and ineffective communication as well (Mickan & Rodger, 2010).
System design faults- The systems integrated into the health center are subject to faults, which becomes a barrier towards effective communication among the team who are dependent on the systems (Mickan & Rodger, 2010).
However, the healthcare work group intends to integrate the following effective communication techniques in order to avoid conflicts within the team. The techniques include, acknowledging, listening, explaining perceptions, discussing experiences in the workgroup to identify similarities and differences in the team, negotiating an agreement and recommending proper treatment in the healthcare group (Mickan & Rodger, 2010). The above identified techniques will enhance synergy among the team work and improve the overall performance of the healthcare work group.
Improving communication among the team will save the organization and help in avoiding the chances of conflicts. In case there are conflicts, effective communication will be necessary for solving conflicts. The following are the necessary approaches that the team intends to execute with the aim of improving communication (Haig et. al, 2006).
Assessing the current method of communication. The team intends to assess the current method of communication in the work environment. This will help in the identification of different areas that need improvement. Moreover, it will help in identifying various sources of conflicts and fetch ideas of improvement from the healthcare team.
Definition of existing communication channels. Working in healthcare, team members need to be in line with some protocols that govern communication. The team intends to locate various ways of streamlining the existing communication channels to make it more effective.
Review the healthcare principles and ethics of work. This will help the team in determining what is negotiable and what is non-negotiable (Haig et. al, 2006).
Involve team members in decision-making and idea generation. This approach intends to facilitate collaborative decision-making among the team members and generate more ideas for performance improvement.
Enhance face-to-face communication among the team. Although the healthcare center has employed technology in communicating, in-service meetings will help in the elimination of attitudinal barriers that are a threat to effective communication (Haig et. al, 2006).
Despite the execution of different strategies for avoiding and solving conflicts, the following strategies may be used to avoid recurring conflicts (McCullough, 2005).
Maintain positivity. In some workplaces, it is impossible to completely avoid conflict. In such cases, the team intends to remain positive, which will create a more positive work environment. In addition, being positive will avoid attitudinal barriers to effective communication.
Avoid personality clashes. Such clashes are among the causes of workplace conflicts. Team members should ensure rare cases of disagreements in the workplace (McCullough, 2005).
Maintain respectful communication. This approach is among the best against recurring conflicts. Leaders intend to avoid cases where they give instructions and in return ask team members for their cooperation. Each team member intends to be careful about how they convey messages to each other through the available communication media. Therefore, treating others how one wishes to be treated will help in solving recurring conflicts.
Avoiding involvement in emotional manipulation. Most recurring conflicts emanate from emotional disruptions, for instance, fear, anger or being upset. Getting involved in such cases might lead to arguments in the workplace hence causing recurring conflicts. Therefore, the team should consider such cases and come up with ways to handle them (McCullough, 2005).
Be aware of workplace policies and what is important in the workplace. Some conflicts arise in the work place following a violation of policies in the workplace. Therefore, the team intends to be familiar with the policies and understand what is significant for the work place.
Leaders in the team intend to apply the following approaches to prevent conflicts in the healthcare work group (McCullough, 2005).
Improve their listening skills. A leader should apply the listen first, talk later approach. This approach will help the leader to identify the causes of conflicts and determine ways of solving it.
Set clear expectations. A leader needs to set expectations that are clearly known to the team in order to avoid any conflicts.
Encourage synergy among the team. The leader should encourage collaboration among the team and create a culture that allows the members to positively complement each other.
Identify different personalities in the team. This approach is to help in avoiding attitude related conflicts in the team. When the team leader understands the personalities of different team members, he will come up with different approaches to handle them (McCullough, 2005).
Avoid criticism in the team. A leader should avoid criticizing team members, avoid complaining and putting the blame on different members. In contrast, the leader should formulate different approaches to approach team members.
References
Haig, K. M., Sutton, S., & Whittington, J. (2006). SBAR: a shared mental model for improving communication between clinicians. The joint commission journal on quality and patient safety, 32(3), 167-175.
McCullough, L. B. (2005). Practicing preventive ethics-the keys to avoiding ethical conflicts in health care. Physician executive, 31(2), 18.
Mickan, S., & Rodger, S. (2010). Characteristics of effective teams: a literature review. Australian Health Review, 23(3), 201-208.
Yukelson, D. (2013). Principles of effective team building interventions in sport: A direct services approach at Penn State University. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 9(1), 73-96.
