Effective Relationships with Teams
Attaining Change through Shared Goals
Sarah Sharp and Steven "Stevie" DeSantis
Over the course of my time with Perspectives I have been a part of many teams while providing support for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. With some teams, the camaraderie was immediate, and we wanted to spend time with each other even outside of work. Other teams had great tactical qualities; we saw a need and found a way to meet it. Still other teams were more mission-focused, trying to create effective change to benefit coworkers and individuals supported.
Some of the easiest teams have been with people who have similar strengths as me, but some of the best teams have been with people whose strengths are vastly different from mine.
In all of these teams, there were ebbs and flows, times when we communicated well and stayed positive and times when we didn’t. It’s fairly easy to come up with a list of what makes a good team, but at the heart of it, a good team is one that recognizes and plays to the fact that we are a group of individuals with different skill sets, qualities, and strengths. Some of the easiest teams have been with people who have similar strengths as me, but some of the best teams have been with people whose strengths are vastly different from mine. In our field especially, teams change constantly. There is DSP turnover as well as changes in management. Staff grow and take on new responsibilities. This change is good, essential even, but can also be really hard. Sometimes it’s important to intentionally reconnect with others on your team to make sure you’re moving in the same direction.
A Team in Flux
In one of the homes I manage, the team has been in flux for quite some time. While new members were learning their roles, others were using time off. Then the winter viruses hit as we moved into the new year. All of this was mixed with our personal lives and never really knowing what is just around the bend at home. We couldn’t find our groove as a team. We were each doing our individual jobs, but not involving each other to strengthen the team. We were getting by, but we weren’t all we could be.
A few weeks ago, one of our mentors realized that most of our management team was at the home at the same time and asked me if we could pull together an impromptu meeting. That mentor said that things weren’t great and that there was an air of negativity amongst the staff in that house. We talked in that meeting about how we wanted to touch base more often, communicate better, encourage more, acknowledge the positive things we see, and support each other more.
We Wanted to Touch Base More Often
Problems weren’t solved in that meeting, but we became more of a team. That mentor and our service coordinator planned a team-building event for our staff involving a guided self-care activity followed by brunch. We have set up regular times for check-ins, and at our most recent quarterly program meeting, we all created a support plan for the program as a whole. We brainstormed what we would love to see at this home in the future. We listed things from new couches to different ways to show appreciation; from decluttering to a bathroom renovation; from using better ways to communicate with each other to creating more meaningful social opportunities with the people we support.
It was a very positive meeting, dealing with real things, because when you and the rest of your team share the same goals, they become more attainable.
We also talked about what we are doing well that we can be proud of right now. Then, we made a list of the first steps toward the attainable goals of the ideals brainstormed at the beginning. It was a very positive meeting dealing with real things because when you and the rest of your team share the same goals, they become more attainable.
There is still a lot to do. Our team needs to follow through with the first steps we identified and hold each other accountable for what we said we would do. We need to regularly refer back to this plan and see how we progress. We need to continuously get feedback from our staff about what is going well, what needs adjustment, and what needs to go back to the drawing board. Truthfully, we will revisit this cycle as our goals and needs change. Learning each other’s strengths and scheduling times to meet and review our progress will be key. Over the course of my time with Perspectives, I have been a part of many teams while providing support for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. I am proud of how far this team has come, and I am absolutely looking forward to seeing how else we can bring positive changes to each other and this home together this year.