Leadership

Leadership is the lynchpin that holds a highly effective team together.

It is the ability to coordinate the activities of team members and teams by
managing the resources available to team members and facilitating team
performance by communicating plans, providing and updating information
about team performance through debriefs, and providing support to team
members when needed.

In a new era of health care and patient management, interdisciplinary
co-management is increasingly being emphasized.

However, quality interdisciplinary co-management still requires the
designation of a leader to effectively guide the team and manage team
resources.

[For purposes of this TeamSTEPPS training, you should be aware that
any team that operates without an assigned leader is a suboptimal team!]

There are two types of leaders:

• Designated – The person assigned to lead and organize a designated core team,
  establish clear goals, and facilitate open communication and teamwork among team
  members

• Situational – Any team member who has the skills to manage the situation-at-hand

This is an important concept for it reminds us that in certain situations any member of the team
may be expected to exercise leadership within their area of competence.

Effective leadership is critical to the success of any team.

But none of the processes below can be done effectively or accountably unless
the team is clear about who the leader is.

Effective leaders:

• Organize the team
• Manage Resources (including delegating tasks/assignments)
• Articulate clear goals and monitor progress toward those goals
• Make decisions through collective input of members
• Empower members to speak up and challenge, when appropriate
• Promote and facilitate good teamwork
• Demonstrate skills in conflict resolution

Effective leaders cultivate desired team behaviors and skills through:

• Open sharing of information
• Role modeling and effectively cueing team members to employ prescribed teamwork behaviors and skills
• Constructive and timely feedback
• Facilitation of briefs, huddles and debriefs

The last item in this list is so important the we will take a moment to look at each of the three activities.

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