Teamwork: One Team, One Goal

Communication 

Communication and Productivity 

Effective communication in a healthcare and nursing workplace setting could have lasting benefits regarding the efficiency of the workers. The presence of excellent communication skills at the workplace leads to an increase in the accountability of the employees (Thomson, Outram, Gilligan, & Levett-Jones, 2015). Fundamentally, employees communicate to one another what is expected of them and thus increase their productivity. Effective communication in a healthcare setting contributes to the understanding of the workers' talents by the managers. Therefore, the leaders can delegate various duties to the right employees (Thomson, Outram, Gilligan, & Levett-Jones, 2015). The matching of the qualified employees for a particular kind of task at the workplace increases the overall productivity among the employees. Therefore, effective communication at the workplace goes hand in hand with the increase in productivity among the members of staff. 

Communication and Morale 

Effective communication in a nursing and healthcare workplace setting encourages the workers to connect with their coworkers, which has been proven to increase their morale. Effective communication also connects the workers to the strategic goals of a given organization, thus increasing their morale to carry out the various tasks that pertain to their jobs (Ladegaard & Jenks, 2015). On the other hand, ineffective communication reduces the morale of the employees at the workplace by increasing differences in the workplace (LaMarco, 2019). Ineffective communication at the workplace may lead to disagreements among the members of staff, which reduces their morale. Ineffective communication at the workplace also leads to low morale among workers due to the time wasted straightening various errors at the workplace (LaMarco, 2019). With inefficient communication at the workplace, leaders and employees will continually spend much time on issues that do not matter. 

Overcoming Communication Barriers at the Workplace 

One of the most common communication barriers that a medical assistant may encounter with his or her coworker is low self-esteem (Thomson, Outram, Gilligan, & Levett-Jones, 2015). Mostly, workers with low self-esteem at work have another underlying issue, such as social anxiety. Medical assistants with low self-esteem spend a great deal of time worrying about how their superiors perceive them and thus end up being poor communicators. The best method for overcoming the communication barrier is organizing seminars for the medical assistants targeting to educate them more on raising their self-esteem to avoid compromising on quality patient care (Thomson, Outram, Gilligan, & Levett-Jones, 2015). The seminars can be organized by the employers in a bid to enhance communication at the workplace and thus foster productivity in the same setting. 

Teamwork 

Teamwork Communication Strategies 

Teamwork communication is one of the necessary tools that the medical assistants can include in their work, especially regarding their social interactions with the other workers. One of the teamwork communication strategies that the workers can make use of is the encouragement of the two-way feedback. The two-way feedback is an engaging form of communication that the medical assistants can make use of to ensure that every member of their team at the workplace contributes to the handling of the activities at hand (Schiff et al., 2018). Team building activities also go a long way into enhancing the teamwork communication that medical assistants need to practice with their coworkers. The team managers are also supposed to enhance communication and collaboration, which the two values that will form the foundation of robust teamwork in a healthcare and nursing setting. 

Assisting Coworkers 

One of the tasks that coworkers can use to help one another smoothen the daily routine is to practice common courtesy (Schiff et al., 2018). Courtesy creates an enabling environment for effective communication to take place and thus to favor productivity. The other task is respecting other people's time (Schiff et al., 2018). When coworkers keep time and ensure that they do not inconvenience the others, there is roper teamwork communication. The other task is minding social media boundaries (Schiff et al., 2018). In as much as social media has proven itself an essential tool in staying afloat of current affairs, social media has also been used to spread miscommunication and disagreements. The other task is to give clear information (Schiff et al., 2018). Coworkers who give information that is straight to the point ease the daily routines of their fellow workers. The last task is to treat everyone fairly. Unfair treatment impedes proper communication and negatively interferes with the daily activities at the workplace. 

Diversity and Teamwork 

Importance of Awareness of and Respect for Diversity 

Diversity in the healthcare and nursing workplace setting is quintessential for the effectiveness of teamwork among the employees. Medical assistants need to be aware of and respect diversity at their workplaces for the following reasons. Firstly, diversity at the workplace fosters effective communication (Zalis, 2017). Effective communication, in turn, leads to an increase in productivity and harmony among workers. The awareness and respect for diversity among the medical assistants enable them to form efficient teams to solve problems that take place at the workplace (Zalis, 2017). With the creation of harmony among the workers, their teams work effectively to transform the workplace. 

Incorporating Diverse Practice Methods 

The first step towards the incorporation of the diverse practice methods is to implement an equal employment opportunity policy (Zalis, 2017). Having the human resource department treat every worker equally is the stepping-stone towards the attainment of a diverse workforce. The second step in the incorporation of the diverse practice methods is the provision of diversity training at the workplace (Zalis, 2017). For the employees to embrace diversity and respect one another at work, the employers need to implement educational opportunities that teach them the importance of having a diverse workforce. The creation of a culture committee at the workplace is another fundamental step towards the incorporation of the diverse practice methods (Zalis, 2017). The culture committee is responsible for developing a culture of diversity in the healthcare and nursing workplace setting. 

Tailoring Communication 

Medical assistants are constantly faced with the need to tailor their communication as they interact with other professionals such as receptionists and physicians. The first step that enables the medical assistants to tailor their communication is to ensure that the message is relevant to the professional intended (Linn et al., 2016). For instance, medical assistants have to use words that relate to other professionals. The medical assistants have to be mindful of the reactions of the other professionals that they are targeting with their tailored communication. That ensures that the medical assistants are on track with the required message. 

References  

Ladegaard, H. J., & Jenks, C. J. (2015). Language and Intercultural Communication in the 

Workplace: Critical Approaches to Theory and Practice. Language and Intercultural Communication , 15 (1), 1-12. 

LaMarco, N. (2019, March 8). The effects of bad communication in business . Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/effects-bad-communication-business-2880.html 

Linn, A. J., van Weert, J. C., van Dijk, L., Horne, R., & Smit, E. G. (2016). The Value of Nurses’ 

Tailored Communication when Discussing Medicines: Exploring the Relationship between Satisfaction, Beliefs and Adherence. Journal of Health Psychology , 21 (5), 798-807. 

Schiff, L., Miele, K., McCollum, M., Li, Q., & Connolly, A. (2018). Teaching and Sustaining a 

Shared Mental Model for Intraoperative Communication and Teamwork. Obstetrics & Gynecology , 132 , 58S. 

Thomson, K., Outram, S., Gilligan, C., & Levett-Jones, T. (2015). Interprofessional Experiences 

Of Recent Healthcare Graduates: A Social Psychology Perspective on the Barriers to Effective Communication, Teamwork, and Patient-centred care. Journal of Interprofessional Care , 29 (6), 634-640. 

Zalis, S. (2017, November 30). The truth about diversity -- And why it matters. Forbes . Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/shelleyzalis/2017/11/30/the-truth-about-diversity-and-why-it-matters/#5590895766e7