What makes a good team?

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

I am interested to hear from all of you in your expectations of a good team and what you would define as an effective leader or manager?

The reason I ask is I am a 'new' manager and 90% of my job is listening and trying to sort out petty arguments or staff who dont follow policy and procedure.

I have recently decided to explore ways to make a team work more effectively I got everybody to write down 3 things they see as good teamwork and three things that they see not working on our unit. Then we will compile a list and deal with each negative and positive individually.

To prevent the P&P being broken contiously if anybody gets written up for breaking one then at the next staff meeting they are going to present the Policy and procedure they broke. Now this may seem harsh but we are an independent health care unit and if we get visited by the state we can be closed down immediatly.

I read on here about staff being unfairly treated and management is unfair. In six months We (the management team) haven't written one person up for breaking these policies, but we have discussed them at 6 staff meetings and have emailed everybody about the seriousness of how we can all lose our jobs. The rules continue to be broken and we can be dropped in on at any time by 'the dreaded' State!

In all seriousness I doubt we will make anybody present the P @ P but we have run out of idea's of how to enforce the rules which we have to follow without question.

Any idea's of how to make everybody follow these P & P?

[RxOnly]

The things you have done already sound great, and I like the idea of bringing up broken P&P at the next staff meeting to re-educate as long as you aren't pointing the finger at whoever made the mistake during the meeting. It can be incredibly embarrassing for that person. If I had broken P&P, I'd want my manager to pull me aside and give me constructive criticism in private.

Also, I'll pretend I'm on your unit and do what you asked of your staff...

3 things that make good teamwork:

1) Great doctor-nurse relationships

2) Staff being able to bounce ideas off each other (we generally don't have a "that's your patient so do what you need to do" kind of attitude)

3) Our manager is very pro-staff and if a patient should complain she doesn't immediately assume that the nurse is wrong (it was the opposite at my old job)

3 things that our NOT working on my unit...

1) Shift wars!

2) Gossip

3) We have been asking for weeks for clear-cut P&P printed for us regarding seizure protocol (I work in detox, so it happens frequently and every nurse seems to handle it differently) but haven't seen them yet. Still waiting impatiently!!

[TheCareerStudent]

The number one piece of advice I would offer to any manager is:

Do NOT discipline your workers in public but DO offer praise when earned in public!

Other then that I won't be much help. I supervised in the electronics industry and working with men is 100% different from working with women. Just be fair, don't micromanage, be stern but approachable, and always work to make sure your workers have goals that you are helping them meet.

Oh and:

Open door policy!

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

The number one piece of advice I would offer to any manager is:

Do NOT discipline your workers in public but DO offer praise when earned in public!

Other then that I won't be much help. I supervised in the electronics industry and working with men is 100% different from working with women. Just be fair, don't micromanage, be stern but approachable, and always work to make sure your workers have goals that you are helping them meet.

Oh and:

Open door policy!

Open door is certainly there although I do feel it is a revolving door some days, especially if I have a day off lol.

Plus I am always at the end of the phone-which they uses frequently.

I hear you about the micromanaging I wonder how you know if you are doing that or not?? I dont think I do but sometimes I get sick of my own voice asking for P & P to be followed As a company we have to do it no questions.

As far as presenting the way the P&P's are being followed they will be all doing their own presentation at the next staff meeting so nobody should feel singled out LOL.

Examples of breaking P &P

Eating and Drinking in the patient care area

Talking or texting on their cell phone in the pt care area

Handwashing

Protective clothing not wearing it as required

Complaining and moaning in front of the pt about other staff!

[Sun0408, ASN, RN]

My first though is WHY are P&P getting broken.. Is the policy not effective, not really important or is the staff load too heavy to keep them in mind.. P&P can go right out the window when pt load and acuity is high and the nurse is just trying to stay a float. Maybe looking at the why more than the who, you might come up with something.

Also the number of P&P may be unreal to keep in mind, they should be readily available to all staff at all times.. Have one person, the charge nurse on each shift that knows them like the back of her hand may help guide everyone to follow.

Try to keep the meetings positive, praise often for a job well done and any negative should be handled in private. Nothing brings down the moral more than every staff meeting being "your not doing enough" etc...

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

I think the work load is a good suggestion and one I am going to look at in greater detail. Although in the financial climate where we live I dont think the corporate office will give me more staff-I fight on a daily basis to keep staffing levels up.

Re the eating and drinking policy there is no excuse in their 10 hour day they have 2x 1/2 breaks which they always always take! plus they can nip off the floor to have a drink if they need one.

[Sun0408, ASN, RN]

LOL.. you just put up examples of what is going on, you can scratch what I just said...

[TheCareerStudent]

Open door is certainly there although I do feel it is a revolving door some days, especially if I have a day off lol.

Plus I am always at the end of the phone-which they uses frequently.

I hear you about the micromanaging I wonder how you know if you are doing that or not?? I dont think I do but sometimes I get sick of my own voice asking for P & P to be followed As a company we have to do it no questions.

As far as presenting the way the P&P's are being followed they will be all doing their own presentation at the next staff meeting so nobody should feel singled out LOL.

Examples of breaking P &P

Eating and Drinking in the patient care area

Talking or texting on their cell phone in the pt care area

Handwashing

Protective clothing not wearing it as required

Complaining and moaning in front of the pt about other staff!

I think that micromanagement is when you give a certain person the authority or responsibility to do something and then you go back in under them to undermine their authority. Maybe as a way to empower your team you could rotate team leader positions and have them do some delegation, great training tool. Of course oversee them but don't undermine their authority to their team. You know you are doing it if you are delegating and then interfering in the delegation authority you gave them. LOL, I know it seems to not make sense but I think one is hard to explain. But just checking the flow of work, like P&P, is not micromanagement, it is just management when you are following up with everyone and correcting blatant problems..

I hope that makes some sense. And I definitely know how you feel about open door, sometimes is can be overwhelming but you definitely want open communication when there are serious underlying issues!

Good luck!