Team Working 2 | Pathology

Team Working

Evidence 1: For this piece of evidence your need to write a piece summarising how some of our trust policies (e.g. Bullying, reporting etc.) make teams work better.

If may help if we start by explaining further the purpose of policies in the organisation:

What are policies?

In part policies communicate the organisation’s:

Culture
Aims
Values
Philosophy

They also cover:

What employees can expect from the organisation (e.g. leave, fair treatment etc.).

What the organisation expects from employees (e.g. code of conduct, confidentiality agreements etc.).

What service users and the public can expect from the organisation (e.g. effective and high-quality patient care, standards professionalism etc.).

The goals of policies:

Set clear expectations: to put in writing what the trust expects from staff in terms of the behaviour, actions, and processes they take in specific situations.

Enable standardisation within the organisation: this creates consistent experiences and care, both internally among employees and externally regarding interactions with patients and the general public.

Reduce risk: by ensuring the organisation communicates all laws and regulations to employees - this reduces the number of fines and other legal risks for the company (this will protect both the individual and organisation!).

Improves employee performance: Clear and consistent policies allow the organisation to adopt best practices and help build trust among employees. This in turn enables both individuals and teams to be more collaborative and productive.

Set high standards for all employees: All staff will know what standards the organisation expects from them, and how any issues raised will be addressed (e.g. bullying, grievances harassment etc.).

Evidence 1 continued: With reference to the 5 goals listed above, explain in your own words how policies for bullying, harassment, grievance, whistle blowing and incident reporting can contribute to effective team working.

Evidence 2: Describe your own role as part of the team in your department, outlining your areas of responsibility. Pick one area that is critical to the rest of the team’s performance and explain why.

It may help to have a look at your job description to help you summarise your main roles and responsibilities.

2. Describe your own role as part of the team:

Describe you job role: (no more than two paragraphs)

List 8 specific activities you are responsible for in your role (e.g. Checking sample and patient demographics on receipt, booking patients into the IT system etc.).

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Although there may be more than one, choose one activity from the list above that is critical to the rest of the team’s performance and explain why. (no more than two paragraphs)

Evidence 3 (Part 1): Produce a statement explaining how you could encourage good team working within your department.

The following points may help for starters:

Using effective Communication
Working well with others
Being consistent
Recognising good work
Accept differences
Offering a helping hand
Celebrating success
Setting a good example
Getting feedback from others
Good time management
Showing you care
Dealing with problems as they arise
Offering training

Evidence 3 (Part 2): Identify 2 actions or behaviours from team members that may impact on team performance.

Actions tend to be more specific single instances and behaviours more general patterns, but both can be intentional or neutral.

For example, turning up late for a shift could be an action that produces an ineffective team as other staff members may need to cover the work or some other work will not get done.

Being disrespectful to others could be an example of a behaviour that would lead to an ineffective team as it would erode morale in the department.

3. Actions or behaviours from team members that may impact on team performance:

Action / behaviour 1:

Describe how this could lead to an ineffective team?

What corrective / mitigative action (s) could you take for this? (e.g. if some has reported in sick for the shift you could volunteer to work late or cover extra shifts)

What would you do if your actions were unable to solve the problem?

3. Actions or behaviours from team members that may impact on team performance:

Action / behaviour 2:

Describe how this could lead to an ineffective team?

What corrective / mitigative action (s) could you take for this? (e.g. if some has reported in sick for the shift you could volunteer to work late or cover extra shifts)

What would you do if your actions were unable to solve the problem?

Evidence 4: For this piece of evidence you need provide an example of when the work of the team has to be prioritised – for example, you are working on your own during a weekend shift and an urgent sample request from A&E.

4. An example of when the work of the team has to be prioritised:

Example of work being prioritised:

Describe your role in this situation:

How would you know that the work had been prioritised successfully?

Sign off: After you have collected each piece of evidence, hand them into your trainer / mentor who will then countersign them. Please note that they may ask for additional evidence or ask you follow up questions. Also ensure that:

You have date and signed your work
You only submit evidence for checking once it is completed (you may take individual evidence pieces out of your portfolio)
Ensure any countersigned checked work is returned back (in order) to your portfolio

Try not to hand in multiple pieces of evidence for marking at once - this will create too much work for your trainer / mentor, instead spread submissions out throughout your training.

Trainer notes: Ensure the candidates line manager completes the 'Line Manager's Comments' section as each module in the portfolio is completed - continuous assessment of the candidates work is required throughout the training period.