Observe

• Observe or participate in interprofessional team interactions or a team meeting.
• The suggested time is at least one hour for the activity.
• Interprofessional team interactions/meetings could involve collaborative team planning or clinical interactions such as joint goal-setting, assessments, interventions, or service planning.
• The format of interactions could be face-to-face meetings, team rounds, or team huddles. They should involve two or more team members of different professions/roles.

Report on the Meeting

• Write a reflective summary that addresses each of the following aspects:
  • Introduction
    • In the introduction paragraph, identify the name of the meeting, number of participants, and type of meeting.

Team Leader Coordination

• Did the team leader coordinate the discussion? If so, how? If not, explain what you observed.
• Did the team leader facilitate or dominate the discussion?
• Describe did the leader achieve the six leadership competencies:
  • The Team Leader: Leadership Competencies
    • There are six leadership competencies needed to become an effective leader (LaFasto & Larson, 2001):
      • Focus on the goal.
      • Ensure a collaborative climate.
      • Build confidence.
      • Demonstrate sufficient technical know-how.
      • Set priorities.
      • Manage performance.

Contributions from the Members of the Team

• Did the members of the team come prepared to discuss the case/situation from their discipline specific perspective? Summarize what you observed.
• How did the members of the team, who were involved in the case/situation, contribute to the discussion?

Interprofessional Communication

• How is the discussion distributed among all team members?
• Did the members of the team appear to understand the roles and responsibilities of other members of the team? Please describe your observations.
• Did the team members appear to have respect, confidence, and trust in one another? Please describe your observations that support your answer.
• How did the team members add other supporting pieces of information from their discipline specific perspective regarding the case/situation?
• Where the opinions of team members were valued by other members? If so, please explain.

Conflict Management

• Were there instances of team members disagreeing openly with each others ideas? Please describe the observation.

Reflect

• Write a brief summary of the experience
• Include a reflection on what was learned about team dynamics as a result of attending the meeting.
• Using the conflict management strategies presented in the content this week, describe two strategies you would use, as a leader, to handle interpersonal conflicts in a team setting?