Management and Leadership Skills in Team Building - Essay Example

Management and Leadership Skills in Team Building al Affiliation Management and Leadership Skills in Team building IntroductionIt is quite understood that any nursing curriculum should incorporate learning experiences that nurture management skills in the students. Therefore, a duly qualified nurse should exhibit at least some of the core management skills. It is also understood that although management and leadership are two closely related concepts, there are some features that distinguish them. This has been supported by Frankel (2008) where he highlighted the importance of differentiating leadership from management roles. This has led to the generalization that a leader can be a manager (leaders are not necessarily managers) but for one to be an effective manager, they should possess quality leadership skills. Thus, it can be argued that a qualified nurse may possess management skills and still be lacking leadership skills. Frankel (2008) noted that it is much challenging to be an effective leader than it is to be an effective manager. However, both management and leadership skills are essential in team building. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the management and leadership skills that are essential in building effective teams. Team working is an important determinant of the quality and safety of care delivered in any health care facility. As Leonard (2004) indicated, effective communication and teamwork is essential for the delivery of high quality, safe patient care. In another study, Nash & Govier stated that there is enough evidence showing that effective teams can improve members’ well-being as well as quality of care. Health care providers recognize the importance of team working in preventing patient errors (Kalisch, Weaver & Salas, 2009). However, for teams to be effective, effectiveness should begin from the initial stages of team building. The determinants of an effectual team include member satisfaction, cohesiveness, effective communication, quality leadership and organizational culture. Another element of effective team working is adherence to behavioural norms or rules as Nash & Govier (2009) noted that among the elements of successful teams setting up and understanding the ways of working (rules) is of utmost importance. These elements can be achieved by the collective influence of good leadership and management. Leadership and Team building Leadership skills are important to the nursing career considering the diversity of personalities that a nurse has to interact with daily. The effectual operation of a hospital unit through one shift depends largely on the leadership qualities of the nurses (Frankel, 2008). Indeed, strong leadership skills are significant in the development of a healthy working environment in all levels of the health care facility especially at levels where majority of the staffs are allocated e.g. the wards (Sherman & Pross, 2010). Frankel (2008) noted that leadership is not about individuals but teams. Team building has been shown to foster an environment for every worker to perform to his/her maximum potential (Nash & Govier, 2009). However, building an effective team requires top notch leadership skills because it involves bringing together people with different personalities. Almost all leadership qualities are important in the management of teams; however, some have more significance than others for instance conflict resolution. It would be very difficult to build a team whose members are in constant conflicts. For nurses to become effective leaders there are fundamental characteristic skills that they should possess. Among these skills, as Frankel (2008) reports, decision making, effectual problem solving, motivation skills and conflict resolution even though the latter is among the roles of managers. All the above can be summarized in one statement: effective nursing leaders should be good decision makers, delegate appropriately, find lasting solutions to problems, motivate others and most importantly be good team players (Frankel, 2008). Team working has been described in various articles as the most essential attribute of a nurse leader including (Frankel, 2008; Nash & Govier, 2009). This is because team working needs the application of most of the other leadership skills. The leader of a team will ensure that there is cohesion in the team and ensure that every team member is motivated and thus effective in pursuing their duties. Moreover, it is through team working that the nurse leader will build trust and enhance group identification which are among the top qualities of a leader as discussed by Frankel (2008). Because team working is significant in nursing, every committed nurse leader should strive to enhance it. There are various techniques of enhancing team work. Among others, Nash & Govier, (2009) listed three of the top techniques, namely, team reflection, ensuring active participation of all team members and setting ground rules or ways of working. The notion that every team member should be physically involved in an activity shadows the importance of team reflection. Reflection is as important as all other activities of the team because it is through reflection that the team will evaluate its progress. What is the team doing correctly? Where is it underachieving? These are some of the questions that can be answered through reflection as well as provide the way forward. Therefore, a nurse should be able to facilitate all these techniques for them to be effective leaders. Management and Team Building Perhaps the most important aspect of management relevant to team building and team working is creation and maintenance of organizational culture. As noted in the first few paragraphs, organizational culture is among the key elements of effective teams. It is quite the expectation of many organizations that a manager will strive to create a culture of excellence that is unique to the organization. A successful manager will always look for ways to make the employees proud of the organization as well as their contributions to the success of the organization. The creation of this culture also applies to team building. The creation and maintenance of organizational culture makes it easy for the manager to maintain the team working spirit. If a manager is able to foster a culture unique to the organization, a culture that every employee is willing to follow with no supervision, then ensuring cohesiveness among teams wouldn’t be a big challenge. Another aspect of management relevant in team building and team working is conflict resolution. Even though this aspect of management overlaps with leadership, it is worth noting that it also forms under management hence showing the importance of good management in team building. Conclusion The concepts of leadership and management are usually incorporated in the nursing curriculum thus ensuring that a qualified nurse will be conversant of the two. This is important because they are quite applicable in the actual practice areas for instance in team building. This paper aimed at discussing some of the important aspects of leadership and management that are essential for effective team building and team working. From the discussion, it is clear that both management and leadership are significant in fostering effectual team working in the health care setting. References Kalisch, B., Weaver, S., & Salas, E. (2009). What Does Nursing Teamwork Look Like? A Qualitative Study. Journal Of Nursing Care Quality, 24(4), 298-307. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/ncq.0b013e3181a001c0 Leonard, M. (2004). The human factor: the critical importance of effective teamwork and communication in providing safe care. Quality And Safety In Health Care, 13(suppl_1), i85-i90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/qshc.2004.010033 Nash, S., & Govier, I. (2009). effective team leadership: techniques that nurses can use to improve teamworking. Nursing Times, 105(18), 22-24. Sherman, R., & Pross, E. (2010). Growing Future Nurse Leaders to Build and Sustain Healthy Work Environments at the Unit Level. The Online Journal Of Issues In Nursing, 15(1). Read More