Reflective Account On Partnership Working

A large body of experience and research provides clear evidence about many of the key determinants of successful partnerships. The focus is to achieve better outcomes through improved service delivery. Partnership working has come a long way in recent years. There is now a consensus that effective partnership working is essential in order to design, develop and deliver personal services for those requiring support and assistance to optimise their independence and happiness. The most important features of an effective partnership are engaging the right people and ensuring they function as a genuine team.

In today’s complex and ever changing environment, organization continue to experiment with new forms of team development. Some of the most successful teams bring together employees with different talents and perspectives. In this research report, my aim is to have a clear and deep research on teamwork and how it affects businesses so that I can help Tina and Frank who is coming back from overseas to start their own business. Before could anybody start their business, it is very important to learn certain aspects. Team work is one among them. I have included some of the important information I collected through my research in order to help Tina and Frank succeed in their business.

To improve partnership working we all have to focus on the purpose of our job role which is to provide best care and support to improve individual’s life, health and wellbeing. Standard ways to maintain good partnership working are as follows-

A partnership is an arrangement between two or more groups, organizations or individuals to work together

We can improve partnership working through effective communication and information sharing. By working as a team and having regular staff meetings, with colleagues and other health care professionals.

Health and social care organisations increasingly need to work together in partnership to get better value from the available resources and improve services and outcomes for service users, by improving quality of support for service users. Good relationships between partners, a common vision and understanding of expected achievements and what outcomes need to be delivered are critical to the success of partnerships. This will enable a more responsive service, which is well co-ordinated approach to the service delivery, and better value for money by ensuring reduced duplication of services.

Association for Specialists in Group Work (2007). Best practice guidelines 2007 revision. Retrieved from http://asgw.org/pdf/Best_Practices.pdf

In order to collaborate successfully with the other members of the team, they have to ‘work together’. Collaboration implies “working together to achieve something that neither agency could achieve alone” (cited by Biggs in Day, 2006, p9). It involves effective communication and contribution to a common goal – and the health and wellbeing of the patient and shared responsibility of the outcome. Each team requires a quality leader, regular meetings attended by all members, joint assessment, regular reviews of patient records which should include ‘shared care plans’; joint decisions following consultation and task delegation to individual team members with the outcome being that “care must be structured, organised and systematically provided to each person in a variety of ways” (Creating an Interprofessional Workforce, 2007, p10).

Groups talk about goals in different ways, using different words. Some groups have major and minor goals or meta- and micro-goals; others divide goals into mission, purpose or goal, and objectives, while other groups talk about aims and expectations. A group is strengthened to the extent it has clear goals and all members know what their roles are in helping to achieve them (Dimock and Kass, 2008, p.62-63). My placement is currently in the Mental Health field and as mental health workers we have groups that are organized to promote to mental health of all and to support the resilience and recovery of people experiencing mental illness.

In many professions, it is better to solve problems by working as a group of people versus an independent approach. As a group, each individual works to achieve what he/she is specifically trained in and come together as one to share thoughts and opinions. The healthcare industry is one that does not function with the skills and thoughts of just one individual. Many people are responsible for one patient and the outcome; this is called inter-professional collaboration. Henneman et al. (1995) stated that “collaboration involves a partnership characterized by mutual goals and commitments in which participants willingly become involved in planning and decision making” (Alberto, 2009, para. 6). In order to have effective teamwork, many key components are necessary within the collaboration. A few examples include: respect for others, confidence in own knowledge, willingness to learn & negotiate, belief in a common purpose, tolerance of differing opinions, and not being threatened by conflict (Black, 2014, p. 190).

To summarise methods that are used to implement inter-professional health care, the goal is for education to build a collaborative (practice-ready) workforce. To accomplish this, methods such as; curriculum development, teaching, financing, identifying patient needs, building a team environment (meetings, communicating, developing standing procedure), governance, protocols, standardization, accurate allocation, are essential.

Collaboration Process: Before this year I had no idea that there was more than one skill to collaboration at all. I was fresh off of learning what collaboration was when I was introduced to the skills that made it up. However, as the year went on I learned what the skills in collaboration were, how it is important to leadership and to master it. Collaboration is made up of Decision-Making and goal setting. What I learned about this skill is that Decision-making is very important to collaboration because collaboration depends on people working together. Working together means that people have to know how to make a decision in a group. I also learned that goal setting helps the group who is collaborating have a vision that guides the group for

Groupwork can be defined as a method of social work that is utilised in order to help individuals to enhance their social functioning through purposeful group experiences and to help cope with their personal group or community problems (Konopka, 1972). The role of groupwork places emphasis on sharing thoughts, ideas, problems and activities, allowing social action groups for instance, to “empower members to engage in collective action and planned change efforts to modify particular aspects of their social or physical environment” (Toseland & Rivas, 2014, p. 38; Pyles, 2009; Staples, 2004). Therefore, reflecting on the processes of groupwork is an essential mechanism for all professionals in order to develop better communication skills, conflict resolution and enhance future performance. This essay will reflect upon the task group processes that were conducted this semester, while evaluating my own role within the group and what was learnt working within a small group.

Preparing for the presentation, we clarified our roles based on our strengthening and empowered each other and built confidence in our teamwork. Furthermore, we used the google docs program for preparing the sophisticated work slide presentation to transfer the article, table, diagram, and PowerPoint; the program is very useful for enhancing effective two-way communications. On the day presentation, I did sincerely appreciate the way we paid respect to each other ideas during the presentation; we tried to help each other and aimed at team’s goals. Hence, clarify roles, build trust, and pay respect to each other are the most important keys for a teamwork during the

When this course started, I didn’t know what to expect. Quickly did I learn that it was more than just about a single individual and his or her ideas and behaviours. As the course progressed, I learned that it was very important to understand how small groups work. Reflecting upon my personal journey with my group, I have learnt that working in small groups requires commitment, synergy, communication, listening, conflict resolution and decision making and problem solving. This brings me upon my personal journey with my small group and how I have learned to work in such an environment.