As a leader or manager in health and social care, you must:
- build productive relationships based on respect and trust
- bring in different views and work across teams and organisations. Make sure everyone is included, heard and supported – especially when things are changing
This means:
- creating inclusive environments where people feel they can speak openly and where everyone’s opinions are valued
- encouraging teamwork and cooperation by engaging external expertise and staff representatives and building relationships across departments, organisations and systems
- working with others towards shared goals that improve outcomes and experiences, involving people in decisions and helping teams work together across the organisation, communities and partners
- recognising and celebrating what others contribute, so success feels shared
- asking for and accepting feedback from team members, colleagues, patients, service users and partner organisations
- focusing on collective benefits, building trust and cohesion
What do effective and ineffective practices look like?
Effective practice
- Meets people from different groups, listens to everybody’s perspectives, and uses open discussion to find shared solutions
- Gathers feedback and adjusts ways of working accordingly.
- Brings organisations together, supports shared learning, and helps teams work together more effectively.
- Works with partners to define shared goals and co-develop strategies. Supports collaboration by providing regular updates to partners and where present, proactively works in partnership with recognised trade unions.
- Makes sure individuals and teams take responsibility for delivering agreed results.
- Listens to the concerns of others, recognising the limits they may face when working in partnership, and is realistic about what is possible in the short, medium and long term.
Ineffective practice
- Makes decisions without consulting others, including trade union representatives, ignoring their input and expertise.
- Imposes a rigid approach without consulting key teams.
- Avoids engaging partners in finding solutions and blames others for problems.
- Focuses solely on one aspect of care and ignores the goals and ways of working of partners.
- Fails to recognise that working in partnership means each team must take responsibility for delivering their part of the work.
- Ignores concerns of others and shows little understanding of the challenges they face when trying to collaborate.