In healthcare, I have found that developing an effective team is crucial Have you ever heard, “teamwork makes the dream work.” This is no different. So, I wanted to share five activities that I believe are critical to developing a highly effective team based on my research and readings.
- Get the best people for team roles. This is so incredibly important. You don’t want someone who just talks to talk; he or she needs to walk the walk. Insight, experience, knowledge, personality traits, and high performance are characteristics that need to be considered when developing a robust team. One bad apple can spoil the bunch, and it’s best to avoid that when developing your all-star team.
- Develop their orientation toward a common vision and collective goals. If the team does not buy into the vision, ideas, mission, or goals, then you will never get to the finish line. There must be some strategic structure or pathway for everyone to get on board.
- Help team members productively work through the inevitable conflicts that come with group interaction. If a team can work through conflicts productively, they develop more cohesiveness and trust amongst each other. You give people the opportunity to hit the ground running to see if they can reach a common goal in a healthy manner.
- Develop cohesiveness between team members. I think cohesiveness goes hand-in-hand with trust. Team building exercises are so important as they promote interaction, provide opportunities for discussion, and develop a healthy sense of competition. I’m a huge advocate of a one or two-day retreat. Team and trust building exercises really help people to open up and realize everyone is in this together.
- Develop trust among team members. I believe trust building takes time. Just because a group of people have to work together doesn’t exactly mean they trust each other. Trust comes from going through the ups and downs as a team and observations.
What do you think is important to developing a highly effective team? Maybe this will helpful for your chapter or organization in medical school that you are leading!
