Self-directed teams in care: challenges and tips

Self-directed teams in healthcare are the rule rather than the exception. However, implementation is also quite challenging and success is not guaranteed. Indeed, there are plenty of reasons why implementation of these teams is doomed to fail: no clear vision, lack of communication, rigid attitude, lack of knowledge and experience and little to no support among employees. 
Yet there are plenty of reasons to do opt for self-directed teams, especially in healthcare. In this article, we tell you all about self-directed teams in healthcare.
As an organisation, it is important to think carefully about why you want to set the organisation up for self-directed teams in healthcare.
The top decides, but successful implementation depends, among other things, on employee support. Therefore, it is good to consider why one is ready for organisational change.
Strong motivation is already a step in the direction. This says Jacomien de Jong, senior adviser of organisational consulting firm Rijnconsult.
❯  Change in healthcare starts at the top
❯  Self-directed teams in care require clear rules
❯  Three reasons to choose self-directed teams in healthcare
❯  Healthcare challenges looming

Change in healthcare starts at the top

Reasons why self-directed teams in healthcare are currently failing:

1. No clear motivation: setting up self-managing teams fails because few clear frameworks are created from the top down in which these teams should operate. It is not the team's job to come up with their own policies and rules. On the contrary, they need these to function properly self-directed.
2. Unclear frameworks: these teams promote cooperation between departments. This allows organisations to respond faster to new innovative processes within the company and to adapt to changes in their own service and product.
3. Lack of communication: Everyone in the institution should be well informed about the change within the organisation. This way, it is clear to whom there is accountability. It is also important that self-managing teams are self-critical and critical of the leadership and can speak up.

Self-directed teams in care require clear rules

When setting up self-managing teams in care, it is necessary to look carefully at what exactly a team is. Especially in home care, day, evening and night shifts are used.
Who are part of the team? “It also starts with a top-down approach. From the management, clear frameworks must be created within which the teams can function.
You then quickly get teams and managers playing ping-pong to arrive at clear rules and definitions. The teams should not make up those rules themselves. But once it is known according to which guidelines they are allowed to work completely autonomously, it is perceived as pleasant,” says De Jong.
De Jong also sees things going wrong when institutions appoint team leaders as coaches. “For the team leader and for the team, it is very difficult to move from one role to another when the first step towards self-management is letting the team leaders go.
Indeed, the role of the team leader is no longer needed in self-management, but it may disappear when a team can work independently and not the other way around. Frameworks and guidance are needed so that teams do not become loose islands and the connection to the organisation remains.
The teams must learn to handle their own responsibilities within the frameworks.”

Download the whitepaper ‘Self-directed teams in healthcare’ and find out why SimpledCard is a good fit for your teams.

Three reasons to choose self-directed teams in healthcare

Self-directed teams are seen as the holy grail within the healthcare sector. But what are the reasons for shaping the organisation around these teams?
Top 3 reasons to implement self-directed teams in healthcare:

1. Employee engagement and motivation: this results in happier employees, which is increasingly important to retain talent and find new well-trained staff.
2. Better cooperation between departments: teams promote cooperation between departments. This allows organisations to react faster to new innovative processes within the company and adapt to changes in their own service and product.
3. Client and sector relations: The relationship with the client and care tailored to that is paramount. Self-directed teams respond faster to changing needs of clients, the organisation and the sector in general. The healthcare sector is subject to innovation and adaptation of laws and regulations.

Healthcare challenges looming

There are times when there is tension between the team and the leadership when a team begins to consciously or unconsciously close itself off from the rest of the organisation. “This is where self-directed teams in healthcare can tip over,” he says.”
“Many institutions wonder at the start of the change process when it will be ready, but implementing self-directed teams and retaining and operating them and the organisation is a dynamic process that never ends,” De Jong adds.
As the market changes, the composition of the organisation and the form of service and even the team changes, organisations are always evolving.
Top challenges in implementing self-directed teams:

1. Adapting corporate culture: healthcare institutions need to flesh out their vision and and values. Organisational change sometimes also requires new structures and processes, creating space to set up self-managing teams. In addition, the institution needs to be supportive at the request of the teams. This sometimes requires adjustment of the overall corporate culture.
2. Board confidence: The management of a healthcare institution must create clear frameworks in which self-directed teams can achieve the predefined goals. In addition, the management should be supportive and give the teams confidence.
3. Mature organisation: in some cases, the institution is not yet ready to implement self-directed teams. Perhaps because a major IT project has yet to be completed or if there is a severe lack of skilled staff or if the company is in the middle of a reorganisation. It requires goodwill from employees and time and energy from management. In addition, sometimes management layers are dropped. Companies need to be open to that. (Source: Research Autonomous Teams, ACE/Rijnconsult 2015)

The next step, according to De Jong, is for institutions to cooperate across organisations and think from the point of view of care. “Not competing, but rather working together.
Many institutions are in the same boat. All are struggling with staff shortages and budget cuts. We see this in cross-organisational collaborations in neighbourhood teams. There, various welfare and care parties work together with parties such as housing cooperatives and the police,” says de Jong.
It is a practical example of cross-organisational working but even there they still regularly struggle with the same issues as self-directed teams in healthcare, what are we allowed or not allowed to do, who takes the lead role and why.
An additional factor is that all team participants come from different organisations, cultures and ways of working. It helps cross-organisational cooperation when the team participants are used to working in such a team.
Do you still have questions about self-directed teams in healthcare? Or would you like to know how other teams use SimpledCard and what benefits it brings them? Then get in touch with our team. They will be happy to tell you more about it.