Assessment 4
Teamwork improves communication, it isn 't just about exchanging information - it is about ideas, feelings, hopes and desires, we find this when we communicate with people we trust and respect. It is also about all those things that make us the individuals that we are.
Another important reason I feel is flexibility, good teamwork depends upon a willingness to change, to be adaptable, open-minded and to learn from skills of others, the good care worker should always be flexible enough to change in the light of new knowledge or the opportunity to acquire new skills.
Negotiation this is a need and willingness to discuss issues, consult our clients, colleagues and management in reaching optimum solutions to problems and issues. Sometimes it involves compromise or confrontation, as well as …show more content…
collaboration. In order to negotiate with team members and management, the team player must be clear about the negotiation and be prepared to compromise. There is some evidence which suggests teams go through a common process of development, Tuckman (1965) has reviewed the literature on this. He says that teams go through the processes of forming (getting together), storming (fighting over territory in the group), norming (coming to general agreement about how the group should work), and performing (getting on with work-sharing without worrying too much about relationships in the group).
Other advantages of teamwork are:
*Can provide a satisfying, stimulating and enjoyable working environment.
*Can co-ordinate areas of expertise so that those with different skills can join forces to enhance individual practice.
*Can help to provide a more comprehensive service to service users.
Another "cute" list of characteristics has items whose first letter forms the word PERFORM
*Purpose
*Empowerment
*Relationships and communication
*Flexibility
*Optimal productivity
*Recognition
*Morale
QUESTION 2 Identify at least 4 factors that affect team work and what impact these have on the care provided.
A factor that can affect teamwork is unclear objectives this needs to be clarified, managers and staff and everyone involved must be clear what they are trying to achieve and why. Another factor could be inappropriate information has the team got too much, too little or out of date information? People need to be more sensitive of the fact that others are at many different levels of awareness and commitment. Putting people down or making them feel incompetent will alienate them and reflect badly on the organisation as a whole. There could also be a personality clash between the team which could affect the service they are providing to the service users.
Another factor is power and responsibility, which tend to go together because a person usually acquires powers either because they need to fulfill responsibilities, or because they are prepared to accept responsibility. Having responsibility without power often means that jobs are not properly carried out; having power but not accepting the concomitant responsibilities often leads to resentment. Teamwork has its limitations.
The boundaries created by teamwork, and difficulties in defining tasks and roles, together with commitment to various forms of status among team members, may limit the effectiveness of teams.
Communication is another factor that affects teamwork if staff are not willing to communicate well this could have a impact on the service users, this could mean that staff on one shift are doing something completely different on another and there is no continuity of care. There can then arise a situation where users collude with staff on one shift to down grade the effectiveness of staff on another shift.
Q 3
There is nothing more effective and rewarding than showing a genuine interest in other people.
There is a good reason why to listen to clients you can learn things, also clients respond well when you listen to them, you build up a better relationship, listening is the single most important of all the communications skills, good listening is where effective communications begins. Many people think listening is passive, talking is active but this is not true. Active listening requires an intense involvement in a conversation. In my work listening to other staff and clients is very important and recognising that each individual is entitled to their own opinion.
Trust is also another important factor in providing a good service to clients, it is important so that people can be more honest and open with each other, meaning the team can work like a well oiled machine.
In order to achieve this we must;
*Listen to our clients carefully and understand what they want.
*Never make promises that cannot be kept.
*Co-operate with each other to ensure that problems are promptly solved and clients requirements are met.
Share with each other and our clients the experience and knowledge gained as we develop as individuals and as a team
Effective teams are also characterized by individual and mutual accountability and a sense of common commitment all team members (whether they are "leaders" or not) must take responsibility for the overall group effectiveness and for dealing with problems that are inevitable. "The best teams invest tremendous amount of time and effort exploring, shaping, and agreeing on a purpose that belong to them both collectively and individually and then translate this purpose into specific performance goals."(Katzenbach and Smith).
It is also crucial that staff and residents in the home are clear what the aims and working method of the home is this is done through staff supervision, also staff getting together with their key clients regularly and going through their care plans and agreeing to small achievable goals.
Leadership is also another factor that contributes to effective team work,
In my work managers have regular meetings with care staff as a group and individual through supervision, managers also involve staff in decision making, example: when new clients are thinking about coming into the home, the clients can stay for the day or a short stay so they can talk to residents who stay there and meet the staff, also it could prepares them for the move.
Staff is also able to assess the client 's needs when they are here. We then have a team meeting and discuss with the rest of the team if we are able to meet the resident 's needs and maximise there quality of life. Managers also have regular meetings with staff which they inform us of policy and organisational developments.
QUESTION 4
Identify 6 factors that effect collaborative working with other agencies, carers etc and show how these can have a impact on the service provided to clients.
To work well collaboratively the individual requires adaptability, open-mindedness and a willingness to learn from the skills of others, all of which comprise flexibility, although when people are not adaptable and cant be bothered this starts to have an impact on the
clients.
Woodcock (1979) says that many teams get stuck in an undeveloped (work- group) stage, and have to be pushed to develop through stages of experimenting and consolidating (i.e. storming and norming) before they become collaborative (or mature, as he calls it).
Good communication is vital in collaborative work both verbal and written if agencies don 't pass on the correct information this could have a detrimental affect to the service users, example if a client is due to come into the home to stay and the appropriate information and paper work has not arrived through different agencies. The social work department 's policy is that they will not admit any resident without a medical history, this could cause distress to the client, this could also result in bed blocking if the person was in hospital. Collaboration can enable sharing of tasks and/or the most appropriate allocations of tasks (capitalizing on peoples strengths, avoiding weaknesses), and can there make a significant contribution to effective time management. Attempts at collaboration can also lead to overlap, gaps, inconsistencies and a considerable amount of time wasted on fruitless debate, leading to indecision and poor use of available resources, including time. Effective collaboration requires clear parameters and role expectations to prevent confusion and conflict halting progress.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
*Why teams Don 't work,Harvey Robbins Michael Finlay (Orian Buisness Papperbacks) 1998
*Working in teams, Malcolm Payne practical Social Work
*Social care practice Janet Miller
REFRENCES
*"The Discipline of Teams", Harvard Business Review. Katzenbach, jon R. and Douglas K. Smith,
*Tuckman, B. W. (1965) ƒSdevelopmental sequences in small groupsƒR
*Woodcock, M. (1979) Team Development Manual, Farnborough, Gower Press