John C. Maxwell, the author of many leadership books, once said, “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way” (Haussler, 2010). There have been many examples in my life where leaders have served their role as described by Maxwell. They have been focused on leadership outcomes as well as team needs to help the team function to its full capabilities and produce the best possible product.
In this week’s lesson, we learned that Hackman and Walton described the three components that are necessary for an effective team: direction, environment, and resources. For example, scribes at the hospital are loved and demanded by the doctors due to the scribe team exemplifying all 3 of the components that were outlined by Hackman and Walton (Neely, 2017). Scribes have a clear goal of assisting in alleviating the workload on the Emergency Room physicians as it relates to charting. As a result, we often go out of our way to perform this task, even if it means doing work that are not stated in the job description. The team structure plays into the environment aspect, where the scribe team is focused on tasks where they routinely build on the trust relationship between scribes and physicians. The physicians not only trust scribes to complete the charts in an outstanding manner, they also rely on scribes to assist them with any issues as they relate to charting. The scribes themselves rely and trust each other to help each other out when we run into issues. For example, the scribes worked together to report to IST when we had on-going computer issues that were not being addressed. Due to our teamwork, IST realized that the computer issue was of utmost importance and solve the issue in a timely manner.
The environment of an effective team also includes an optimal team size and the perfect combination of members. Having a large amount of members can be problematic since the effort given by each member will decrease as the team size would increase (Global Focus, 2006). Having a smaller amount of members than needed can also be an issue since there may not be enough members to perform all the necessary tasks, and the quality of the final product will be affected. For example, being overstaffed meant that when shifts needed to be picked up, everyone would wait for another person to pick up the shift thinking that there are a lot of other scribes who can help out and the maximum effort for fulfilling scheduling needs is not needed by each member. Since we are currently understaffed, scribes are having issues with filling some open shifts because we just do not have enough manpower fill in those timeslots.
Having a collaborative environment and setting standards of excellence are also key components of the environment of an effective team. A collaborative environment means that each member is able to rely on each other when it comes to solving issues. The collaborative environment is one of my favorite aspects of my current scribe team since we are able to address any issue by working together and rely on each other to solve issues when the team leader is unavailable. Standards of excellence implies that members must know what is required of them by the team. These standards for the scribes are set forth by both the team leader and our hiring company.
A positive environment also includes external support and principled leadership. Adequate resources are essential to completing the task in an efficient manner. While all of the equipment for the team was given by the hiring company and hospital, we had to rely on our project leader for support and recognition. Since there are limited ways of promotion within the team, praise is one of the ways that the team leader for scribes provided us with recognition. Principled leadership means that the leader serves as a point of support and becomes an example for the team. The team leader for scribes picks up extra shifts, allowing her to attend to both the needs of the groups and showing how much extra work a member should be doing.
Team leadership is a complex concept which has many aspects, including direction, environment, and resources. While the specific requirements, pertaining to each of these aspects, of each team differs according to each task, an effective team requires all of these aspects to work together harmoniously.
References:
Global Focus. (2006). Is Your Team Too Big? Too Small? What’s the Right Number? Retrieved March 21, 2017, from http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/is-your-team-too-big-too-small-whats-the-right-number-2/
Haussler, P. (2010). Know the Way, Go the Way, Show the Way. Retrieved March 21, 2017, from http://www.quantumworkplace.com/future-of-work/know-the-way-go-the-way-show-the-way/
Neely, B. (2017). Lesson 9: Team Leadership. Retrieved Feb 15, 2017. Web. Retrieved from psu.instructure.com/courses/1834747/modules/items/21827914
Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice 7th edition. Sage.
Rebecca Reyes Perez says
Larson and LaFasto mention eight characteristics that are linked to team excellence that have been backed up by studies (Northouse, 2016). One of the characteristics standards of excellence fosters an environment in which people will feel the need to perform extremely well (Northouse, 2016). You mention that within your work environment standards are clear and presented before beginning the job. In order to meet a standard of excellence norms of conduct must be clear as they are in your work place (Northouse, 2016). You also mention that standards of excellence determine the environment of an effective team. Leaders must make standards and expectations clear, by doing so there is little room for misunderstanding (Northouse, 2016). When standards become universal within the workplace the pressure to excel becomes a reality (Northouse, 2016).
Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice 7th edition. Sage.
Brian C Van Aken says
Great job in providing a well-rounded example that demonstrates the importance of all three of the components of an effective team as outlined by Hackman and Walton. You showed how each of the components listed was being demonstrated by the scribes. I couldn’t help but notice that you felt the current pressure of lack of resources, i.e. the number of actual scribes was impacting the ability to fill the timeslots needed to be a constant presence and support for the doctors. I find it interesting that the more scribes you had over the optimal size, also created the same issue because people assumed someone else would handle it. If one of the two main critical function of leaders is that they must help their groups accomplish their tasks (PSWC, 2017), wouldn’t this have been an issue the leader of the group should have handled? If shifts weren’t being picked up while you were overstaffed out of misunderstandings, the team leader should have stepped in to be directive potentially. I can understand it better being understaffed than overstaffed that the leader wouldn’t have many options.
The second critical function of a team leader is to provide a positive climate, resolve any interpersonal issues and create cohesion amongst the team members (PSWC, 2017) and this sounds like what your team leader has done when you speak about your culture and her “lead from the front” mentality. The lesson commentary talks about how the leader isn’t the only one responsible for these two critical functions, but that the team members can “share” this responsibility (PSWC, 2017). This sounds a lot like how you’ve discussed the commitment to excellence, and raising up issues to IST before they create too much of an impact on the doctor’s ability to do their jobs.
Sounds like you’ve found a great place to work and wish you the continued success!
References
Penn State World Campus. (2017). Lesson 9: Team Leadership. Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/canvas/sp17/21711–17327/content/07_lesson/printlesson.html (Links to an external site.)
Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice 7th edition. Sage.
pib5093 says
The section on the environment of an effective team in reference to optimal team size is important. I have been in a number of small and large groups. In my opinion, when a team is too large, members can feel insignificant, their input has no relevance, and they can blend into the team unnoticed (social loafing). Our commentary discusses “cliques” and their effect on larger groups. One major concern is how cliques can influence group decisions and conflicts. On the other hand, if a team is too small, members can have a tendency to become overwhelmed with responsibilities. It is my experience that when teams are too small, it only takes one member out (i.e., illness), to create barriers and disorder in reaching their goals.
REFERENCES:
Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Penn State World Campus (n.d.). Leadership Development: A Life-Long Learning Perspective. [Commentary]. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1834747/modules/items/21827886