Working in health and social care is rewarding yet often challenging. In addition to the obvious physical and emotional demands of patient and community care, there are high expectations around professional standards and safety, the need to meet key performance indicators such as throughput and adapting to new technology. These demands occur in an environment where people work closely with others in high-pressure situations within complex and often bureaucratic systems.
As a consequence, we are often invited to work with these teams in building resilience.
The R@W Team Scale explores the seven components that create resilience within a team. Recent workshops with allied health teams undergoing a restructure highlighted some key challenges that emerged when exploring the resilience of allied health teams during change. Some of these may resonate for you…
T1 Robust. Solid intention with agility
How do we continue to add value and hold our personal professional standards and integrity when session times have been shortened at the same time as patient complexity increasing?
T2 Resourceful. Optimising resources and processes
How do we optimise our skills and experiences to take care of our patients in a way that doesn’t compromise our professional boundaries yet allows flexibility in the way we work together? How do we maximise the value-add to patients in the short consultation times mandated?
T3 Perseverance. Persisting despite setbacks
How do we regroup and stay motivated to make this new structure and service delivery model work when it’s the third restructure we have had in three years and we feel at saturation? How do we ensure that we do not flatten the energy and enthusiasm of those just joining our team?
T4 Self-care. Ensuring sustainable performance
How do we develop a culture of self-care within our team so that we stay healthy? What do we need to agree on around support, debriefing and other actions that help us stay well at work?
T5 Capacity. Delivering in a changing landscape
How do we build relationships with the health units that we are now working more closely with? How do we do balance this with clinical time commitments?
What skill or knowledge sets are we missing given the new trends we are seeing in patient presentations? What do we know already that we can cross-skill within the team and what do we need to source externally?
T6 Connected. Having a sense of belonging
How do we keep the current informal caring for each other happening when we will be working remotely or having less time physically co-located?
T7 Alignment. Sharing motivation for success
How do we determine what success looks like in transitioning to the new structure and how do we celebrate it?
Discussing and having agreed actions on these challenges within the team, enabled practitioners to feel better supported and able to invest in independent personal strategies for thriving in their role. A collective plan builds hope!