Why is Teamwork important in the healthcare system?

While researching about team building and effective teams in the health care field I came across an interesting article that described the importance. the link to the article can be found here: http://www.hrhresourcecenter.org/HRH_Info_Teamwork. There are two broad categories of the article which consists of collaboration and the overall importance of a team, specifically in a health care setting.

When discussing collaboration, the goal Is to expand the purpose of traditional roles of workers and to make decisions as a unit to work toward a common goal. A study done by the Canadian Health Services showed that teams function better when they have a clear purpose with the goal of implementing protocols and procedures. Health care is a multidisciplinary profession in which nurses, doctors, and administrators must work together in order to deliver the most efficient care to patients. Each profession in health care have their own specialties and knowledge based on what their job is and what they learned in school. These different professions have to collaborate with one another to bring all of the knowledge together in order for the patient to be satisfied. With many different minds coming together discussing a patients health conditions, the most efficient solution can be implemented.

When discussing the overall importance of a team the first important aspect is that primary care is becoming more advanced and specialized which makes the workers have to perform complex tasks and learn new methods quickly. Also, with obesity, diabetes, and addiction being common themes in the United States, these workers also have to work on preventative measures and teach patients the importance of how terrible these diseases are. Lastly, many doctors have to manage patients with MANY different conditions which involves a team of health care workers tending to these people. These three reasons are why a team setting is so important in health care to enforce quality of care for the patients being treated.

Overall, I thought this article did an excellent job summing up what we already learned about team work in the health care field. The first step is having collaboration, involving many different doctors with different specialties coming together to treat a patient in a safe and healthy way. With many different diseases and personal decisions being made in the United States, Doctor, Nurses, and administrators must come together to treat the patient.

Having Effective Meetings

On Wednesday, my class got a presentation on how to have an effective meeting and what types of people are the best fit for these groups. The two people presenting were business majors in this topic directly related to what they do in the Paul School of Business. This topic was especially important to me because down the road I will have to be doing the same exact thing at my future place of employment.

In the beginning of the presentation, they talked about some "bad" people that can sometimes negatively affect the team with their actions and personalities. Some of the examples of bad individuals are the ones that are always late, leave early, on their technology all the time, the interrupter, and the one that drags every idea out. These types of individuals can really impact the team whether its due to being late or not prepared to discuss the topic at hand. To combat this, there has to be a good enforcer/leader. This individual has to always stay on topic and make sure the other teammates are sticking to the agenda. Also there has to be an individual that makes sure the team is on track and have the skills to bring them back onto the topic being discussed.

After we discussed all the negative types of people that could impact a team, we did an in class activity where we had a short amount of time to fill out an agenda that would typically be used during meetings. Some of the categories on the sheet were objective, start and end time, duration, and individuals attending the meeting. Whoever could fill out the greatest amount of the sheet accurately one a little prize. I really thought this was an interesting way to demonstrate how tough and stressful meetings can be, especially when everyone isn't on the same page.

Lastly we watched a video that showed how some of the personalities discussed above can affect the team. While it may have been over exaggerated, the video really depicted some of the issues that managers face today. During the clip, people were late, on their phone, discussing ideas that were off topic, and the leader didn't listen to anyone's ideas besides his own. This video summed up why a team that works together makes an organization run smoothly. A successful manager will be able to sort through individuals in order to find the ones that fit the team the best.

Crisis Leadership overview

Yesterday, we learned about crisis leadership and how an effective manager communicates and acts in these types of situations. The presentation was excellent in my opinion, and really showed us real life examples on mangers who have effectively and ineffectively acted in times of crisis. The first part of the presentation went over the steps on how managers should act in times of need. A manager who acts well in stressful situations will remain calm, announce plans on how they plan to fix the situation, and than act accordingly. On contrast, a manger cannot panic and cause the population to freak out with them because the situation will only become worse.

One of the situations the group showed us was how a mayor (I believe, cant quite remember his name) acted when the planes hit the twin towers. When asked in a news conference he remained calm and told the people that they were working on a plan to save as many people as possible. Also, another thing that really struck me was that he never mentioned the number of deaths from the attack because that would cause the United States to go into a frenzy. In my opinion, he was a perfect model of a higher end individual acting in the most appropriate way during an ultimate time of crisis.

On the other hand there was controversy on how the president, George W. Bush, acted when he heard the news of the attacks in New York. Mr. Bush was at an elementary school reading a book to a classroom of children when he heard of the attack. Instead of acting, he waited seven minutes until the book was finished before he acted on the situation. Many people were infuriated that he didn't respond immediately and address the nation in a time in need. Mr. Bush argues that he waited the seven minutes because he didn't want to scare the young kids. This was a major controversial issue and many people have differing opinions about it. In my opinion, I think that Mr. Bush should have quietly announced that he had to leave early to deal with an issue. He didn't have to mention that it was about the twin towers but could have instead said that he had a major issue to deal with.

The last thing we did was practicing scenarios by breaking up into groups of board members and people addressing the board. There were four scenarios ranging from internal scenarios in the organization to personal problems that individuals could face while working. I thought this exercise was a great way to portray this topic because we only had five minutes to come up with a plan to address the board. While this may seem short it does portray how quickly individuals have to respond in times of crisis.

Crisis Leadership pre work

In today's class were going to be learning about crisis leadership and what type of leaders we are in the workplace. One of the pre work assignment was to take a ten question quiz that will give our leadership type based on the results that were provided. I had personally never seen this quiz before but I thought it was interesting because the questions were presented in a different way. For example, one of the questions asked us to pick an animal and another one asked us to finish the sentence "Rules are meant to be.." I thought this was an interesting way to determine what type of leader I am and how I think through different situations. The type of leader that I received was a democratic leader. This means that what's best for everyone is best for me, and I would offer every employee the chance to offer input and share ideas. This creates problem solving and leads to overall employee satisfaction. Unfortunately, the quiz stated that when there is little time for deliberations, the work is not as good, and sometimes deadlines are missed. In my opinion this doesn't reflect my style because I rarely ever miss deadlines, especially when school assignments are due. It would have been more appropriate to state that these types of leaders may tend to procrastinate which tends to reflect my personality in a more accurate way. Overall I thought this quiz was an excellent and unique way to show what type of leader I am.

Ethics Pre Work

The first question that was sent to us for pre work was our opinion of what ethics personally means to us. When I think of ethics I think of doing the right thing when people aren't around or watching you. Ethics has a lot to do with morals and the way certain individuals were brought up early in their life. Doing something that is wrong with people watching is different because the problem will be seen first hand. Ethics doesn't have to be a legal issue, it could just be reporting a problem to a supervisor before they have to find out on their own.

The second question asked about a personal experience at work where ethics may have come into play. Personally, about a year ago, there was a major ethics problem that happen at Hannaford's that I was involved in. My night manager was messed up on drugs or alcohol and everyone in the store could easily tell that he wasn't in his right mind. One of my co workers ended up calling the STORE manager who had to come in and terminate him on the spot. I ended up having to write a written statement explaining the incidents that proved he was high or drunk. There were two different ethics issue in this example, one being good and one being bad. My co worker did the right thing by calling the store manager because he could bring a negative impact to the organization. My night manager obviously did something ethically wrong by consuming drugs or alcohol while working on the job.

The third question asked about ethical problems that could potentially occur in the workplace. There are a lot of problems but a few are harassment, stealing, drugs/alcohol, poor time management, and inappropriate relationships with co workers. As I mentioned some of these are crimes and some are moral issues. Poor time management could involve someone abusing their ability to take breaks without their managers hovering over them. Also inappropriate relationships aren't illegal but it could make other co workers uncomfortable around them.

The last question asked about some ethical problems that could arise in a health care setting. Some of the problems could be misdiagnosing a patient for more Medicare money or finding a loophole in the benefits program which results in gaining more money. In my opinion ethical problems in health care settings are really bad because it personally could impact a patients well being.

Reflection on Chris Armijo's Presentation

During Monday's class, we had a guest presentation from Chris Armijo and I thought it was very interesting. He explained a little bit about his background and how he got involved with the health care field in general. One of the first things that was intriguing was that Mr. Armijo wasn't even interested in the health care field to begin with. When explaining this, he mentioned that he was a "party kid" growing up and that he knew that this type of lifestyle would never land him a good job in the future. This led him to join the army because they paid for schooling and it was a way out of the party scene. I personally thought this was very interesting because it shows how careers and interests can spark up out of nowhere and that you never know where you going to be years down the road. After he introduced himself and explained some of his background, he went on to explain some of his personal experiences with organizational behavior.

The first topic that really caught my eye had to do with relationships within an organization and how crucial it is not to ruin these bonds. Mr. Armijo explained how there would be times when higher ranking officers would scold him and he would have to accept it in order to maintain that relationship. This would work the same way in a health care organization compared to a military/army setting. Sometimes mangers ask individuals to complete tasks that they don't think are important, but finish them anyway because they don't want to anger the boss. Also, having relationships with people that might not be your favorite can be helpful because they might know other health care professionals who could open up better opportunities down the road.

The second point that I took away from this conversation was that an individual should never view a manager or individual with a higher role in the organization as a superior to you. As a team everyone has a role and the right to voice their opinion on a topic that is being discussed. If someone constantly just agrees with the manager than they could be labeled as a follower rather than a leader. Also, depending on the personality of the manager, agreeing all the time could lead to an individual being used by the "superior" boss.

Overall I really enjoyed Chris Armijo's discussion. He had a great personality and background on the topics that we have previously discussed in class. I learned to always keep relationships with people because they could know individuals that could present me better opportunities down the road. Lastly, don't view individuals in an organization as superior because everyone has a role to keep the train moving on the track.

My presentation on listening

Last Wednesday Shayna and I presented on the topic of listening in the workplace. To start, we discussed our three pre questions that I'm going to personally reflect on first. The first question talked about a personal time when bad listening caused a problem in the workplace. Ironically, I had an incident a couple of weeks ago that could have been prevented by active listening. I've been working at Dover Fields Hannaford's for four years now and have developed an excellent relationship with my manager. She approached me one day and told me that there was a thief problem going on in my department. After the conversation I mentioned what she said to a couple of kids that I know have stolen items in the past and they decided that it wasn't worth listening to. Unfortunately a couple of days later one of my co workers got caught red handed and the whole department got in trouble for it. If this individual would have listened to me in the first place than this incident could have been avoided.

The second question was asking how to effectively communicate with someone that struggles with listening. In my opinion, I would take this individual to a room that is quiet and rid of distractions to make sure that they can actively listen. Whenever I have a problem listening it usually comes down to outside factors distracting me from the conversation

The third question asked about the factors that can effect listening. Like I stated before, the environment can cause a distraction to anyone trying to listen. However, I feel like body language and tone of voice can effect listening as well. If I'm talking to someone that constantly tries to show they are smarter than me, I automatically shut off and have a hard time focusing on what they are saying.

After the pre work, we had a telephone activity. The activity didn't go as well as planned because there wasn't enough people in the room to mess up the message but it did show how listening is important. We also showed a Ted talk that discussed how learning can impact the workplace. The overall message from the video reminded me of a passage from one of the articles I sent in the pre work. Most people think good listeners are like a sponge and absorb all of the information when in reality a good listener is like a trampoline who can bounce information off to the other individual. I thought this statement really summed up the message we tried to deliver in our presentation. I always thought that a good listener looks someone in the eye, acknowledges what the other person is saying, and acts accordingly. In reality, a good listener should ask questions that clarify the points being presented and than act accordingly once they feel confident that they understand what is being said.

Difficult conversations in the workplace

Last time I wrote about the differing perceptions that lead to difficult conversations in the work place and today I'm going to write about the overall topic as a whole. Difficult conversations happen in any organization and I learned that it is crucial to have the tools in order to have these talks the in the correct and appropriate fashion. These type of conversations can occur for many reasons, some being the lack of background on the other individuals role in the organization or a common belief that one is right and the other is wrong. During this class I learned a few different techniques that could really help these conversations become easier to have.

The first method I learned about was creating a calm environment for everyone to be comfortable with and have the ability to voice any concerns that they might have. Before this class I would have thought that this would make no difference, but in reality a comfortable setting is crucial in having an effective conversation. Personally, I have had difficult conversations with my manager and I wouldn't want it to be in an environment that someone could overhear us or distract us from the topic at hand. The brain is wired to detect different noises and have the ability to differentiate them. Unfortunately in this situation the brain doesn't have the capability of having an effective conversation with a lot of background noise going on as well. In my opinion, going into an office with all technology turned off would be the best environment to have a difficult conversation in.

The environment isn't the only factor that could make or break a difficult conversation. The way you present yourself, and the tone of voice are variables that could effect these conversations as well. If an individual has a stern face and their arms crossed, than it could make the other person uncomfortable. To correct this, I would always try to make myself as approachable as possible and create trust that I will listen to any topic that is being presented to me. An effective manager cannot have a difficult conversation with an employee if he's not trusted to listen or looks like he doesn't care. Also I believe that a person's tone of voice could really effect a difficult conversation. No one that I know wants to talk to someone that constantly shows that their smarter than them or comes off as hard to converse with. Personally, I have lost friendships due to someone's "demeanor" and overall tone of voice.

I presented my topic yesterday in class on listening to people in the workplace. When I researched this I was shocked at how similar these two subjects are to one another. I will share what my ideas were on listening in my next blog post.

Differing Perceptions for Difficult conversations in the work force

In class today, two of my peers are presenting on the topic of difficult conversations in the workplace. I'm going to focus on one part of the article that my classmates sent, and that is differing perceptions in the workplace. Personally this topic is very interesting to me because as future managers, we need to know the tools and tips on how to appropriately have difficult conversations with co workers. The first thing I found intriguing in the article that was sent to us was revolved around the phrase "assumptions about intent." This basically means that in a difficult situation, we think we know the intentions of the other person, while in reality we truly don't. Most of the time people don't explicitly state their intention during a situation, causing it to be unfair to truly think we know what their purpose was. This could cause a divide in the organization because the worker is going to feel like he is being judged by his manager. Individuals tend to assume they know someone's intent because they feel the impact of the actions of the other person. In other words, individuals might feel hurt by the difficult situation causing them to think that the other person had a malicious intent. This statement sets up the next important piece which is the overall feelings of individuals. Situations, especially difficult ones, can cause a person to become extremely passionate which can affect our ability to think and problem solve in an appropriate fashion. In the article my classmates sent, one of the quotes was," when we are very upset, and have not successfully communicated our feelings, it is not possible to listen." This quote meant a lot to me because I have witnessed this happen numerous times while working. Personally, I've seen customers upset me, which causes me to forget what my manager asked me to do before she left. Controlling your emotions is vital in having any conversations with managers, but it can be hard when the situation is difficult. In many bad situations, feelings tend to be the nucleus of what caused these instances to occur. Unfortunately, people have become really good at masking their emotions which can lead a manager to having a difficult time reading the true feelings their colleague is expressing. In my opinion the worst thing to do in a difficult situation is to blame the other person without knowing the true intent or story. The article states that focusing on blame is very ineffective because it blocks our ability to learn what really happened in the situation and most importantly how to correct it in the future. As stated before, blaming someone is making judgments on their intent in the situation. An effective manager cannot be known for casting blame during a situation because the co workers are going to feel vulnerable. Instead, the manager should sit down with the individual and talk out the situation with him, as well as truly listen to his side of the story. These three points really show how difficult situations arise in the workplace. In class today, I'm hoping to learn some tools on how to correct these three points and I will reflect on it in my next blog post.