Leading Teams in Health and Social Care: A Study on Leadership, Team Building, and Communication

As part of the formal assessment for the programme you are required to submit a Leading Teams in Health and Social Care assignment. Please refer to your Student Handbook for full details of the programme assessment scheme and general information on preparing and submitting assignments.

1) Examine the role and importance of leadership when leading teams within the Health and Social Care environment.

2) Analyse the values of using theoretical models when building successful Health and Social Care teams.

3) Explain the stages of team development and plan how to motivate team members to achieve given objectives.

4) Provide recommendations for open communication between the leader and team members to support team development within Health and Social Care.

Read the following case study carefully. It is adapted from a true story. Hannah first started working as a nursery nurse, but after witnessing the care and compassion provided to a family member after a stroke, decided to come and work in social care. She started working as a domiciliary care worker in a small family-owned business, and has since progressed through a number of managerial roles to become a head of care services. She’s now part of a development team, overseeing the building of a new care service to support people with dementia.

She’s never studied management or leadership, and she is both worried and excited about a new project where she is involved in the design and planning of a new facility to support 30 people with dementia in a specialist dementia suite, and 49 extra care apartments for those in need of extra care. She will be working closely with the architects and various tradespeople and will soon be recruiting the wide range of staff needed: carers, administration and reception, maintenance, domestic and catering. Her role also involves:

• managing a team of registered managers who run their own care services.

• supporting the chief executive officer and working with the director of shared services and head of housing.

• working with CQC and local authorities to ensure that all services are compliant and meet regulatory standards.

• dealing with compliments and complaints in relation to the care and operational services.

• developing a training strategy and training resources for the organisation.

Hannah really enjoys managing a team and is very motivated to develop team members in their roles, but she realises that she needs to gain a deep insight and understanding of leadership related to her new project. She decides to write a 4000-word formal business style report for her team that highlights those aspects of leadership relevant to project, to ensure that there is a shared understanding and context of leadership and teams. The report will address the following areas:

1. Examine the role of leadership in leading teams.

2. Analyse the value of using theoretical models relevant to when building a successful team.

3. Explain the stages of team development and the leadership style at each stage to achieve a successful project outcome.

4. Provide recommendations for open communication between team members to support team development.