Reference no: EM132220665

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the staircase.” ~~ Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)

Power is often a given for leadership; that follows with the title and responsibility. To be influential as a leader, human relationships also must be considered. In this lesson the focus is on influential leadership which encompasses aspects including team building, quality focus, and conflict resolution. These various areas tie back to building and nurturing human relationships. Staff is a primary asset of a healthcare institution. An influential leader positively impacts those around them and builds the people they are leading.   

A successful team is made up of successful individuals who bring their talents to the group to benefit the organization. Teams are an important component of successful businesses. You may have had the opportunity to be a team member at work or in another capacity such as a group like the PTA at your child’s school.

The first step is to select the team. The team could have chosen members for a process improvement team, or comprise volunteers from staff of various departments to plan special function activities for the institution. As a leader you want to make sure the best people are on the team to achieve results. The team’s purpose is to work toward a common goal so that vision needs to be known. Consider it a skill builder if you are assigned to a team and include this team responsibility on your resume.

Clarify roles. Everyone on the team plays a role in the team’s success. The team members will need to work together and team expectations need to be clearly defined. It might be necessary for the team to develop their own charter to start to set common ground on what will be accomplished. When team members understand how their role will contribute to the group’s work it helps them to understand the big picture.

Communication is important for team success. The team goals need to be apparent as well as where the team is heading. Everyone will need to work together and communicate to be able to problem solve for the team to succeed. Another component of good communication is listening. Everyone should have the opportunity to participate and share their ideas. A good team leader can facilitate such communication. It is also necessary that the team have the tools they need to work together and be able to get the team tasks done. Some of the key elements of team communication are addressed in this communication skills video.

Building strong relationships is another important team component. This is essential for any successful business, and vital for team success. Trust needs to be built. Team members need to see their contributions to the team are valuable to the institution. The video goes over three steps to build relationships in the workplace.

A process to track progress is needed. This could be a team progress report provided at specific intervals, or even an informal meeting with the responsible person on what the team has achieved and how they are on track with the team tasks. This is an opportunity to change directions if needed to achieve the team’s goal.

Assess the team for performance. There needs to be some authority person who can act as a ‘coach’ whom the team ultimately reports that can step in if needed and be available if issues need clarification to proceed. Some coordination by the institution may be needed across teams. For example, the quality assurance director can ascertain how several different process improvement teams are meeting their goals and might even join a team on occasion to see how they are performing and if they need further help.

Innovation and creation are team results that are desired. One person thinking by themselves is not as effective as several together to share ideas. The team members have skills and expertise that they individually bring to the group. As a group team members together can brainstorm to develop new ideas and solutions. At times a team might need empowerment and freedom to accomplish their goals and tasks.

Use virtual team techniques when needed as there may be teams that are not able to meet in the same place. For example, an institution may have branches in various cities or even states to confer together in virtual meetings for the institution. One example might be a healthcare system that has experts in the field in various branches across the USA that are working as a team to improve a service.

Deal with problems and move on. All individuals may not agree and there will be times that things need to be worked out to proceed with the team activities. The team leader may need to remind the team about their objectives to keep on track. Some conflict can be healthy for coming up with new ideas too.

And finally, you want to celebrate success. The team needs to be rewarded for their efforts. It may be a public thank you or some other way to show appreciation such as a successful end of project party or lunch out to recognize the team’s work.   

Case Study 1: The Quality Improvement (QI) Team Kick-Off?

(Courtesy of Victoria Parker, Program Director Department of Health Policy and Management Boston University School of Public Health)

Jeff looked at his watch again, sighed, and glanced around the room. It was already 5 minutes past the hour. His first quality improvement (QI) project at Suburban Hospital, and only 3 of the 15 people he had invited to the kick-off team meeting had appeared.

Disappointed, Jeff proceeded to talk through the slide presentation he had carefully prepared, which outlined the targeted problems and the structured quality improvement methods that would be used to tackle the concerns. The three people in attendance asked few questions and seemed eager for the meeting to end. After a short and awkward discussion, Jeff watched them hurry out of the room.

Back in his cubicle in the Quality Improvement department, Jeff struggled to sort through the mixture of anger, embarrassment, and frustration that he was feeling about his effort to launch this QI team. As the quality director had suggested, Jeff had invited stakeholders from all the clinical and administrative areas involved in these issues to join this team. Using the hospital’s email system, he had created and sent an electronic meeting invitation, and at least 10 of the 15 stakeholders recruited had accepted the invitation. Jeff had not wanted to make the e-vite message too long; the invitation had stated that each recipient had been named to a “new QI team.” Yet, only three had bothered to show up! And even those who attended did not seem very interested or engaged in what Jeff had to say.

Prior to the meeting, Jeff had been anxious to implement all of the great ideas about self-managing teams and group facilitation that he had learned in his healthcare management courses at State University. Now, based on today’s attendance, he found himself feeling desperate about how he would even get the project off the ground, never mind make it self-managing. As a quality analyst, Jeff realized that he had no formal authority over any of the people he had invited. How could his director expect him to get them actively involved?

Assignment below:

Above Refer to the Case Study : The Quality Improvement (QI) Team Kick-Off? Prepare a 1-2 page body double-spaced paper, utilizing critical thinking skills to address the four case study discussion questions at the end of the case study in your paper. Please separate the four question areas you are covering in your case analysis paper. You also need to demonstrate research with at least one scholarly resource from the library to support one idea in your case analysis paper.