This multidisciplinary team workshop arose from local concerns related to two issues. First, like many maternity services the Trust had seen a high number of retirements from senior clinical leadership posts in recent years, so many clinical midwifery leaders and managers were new in post. There was a sense that some were not seeing themselves as leaders, and were struggling to undergo the necessary transition from a clinician identity to life as a clinical leader and manager. Second, there were challenges associated with effective multidisciplinary team working, with midwives and obstetricians sometimes struggling to deal with conflict.
With these issues in mind, the workshop focused on participants’ understanding of leadership and management roles, and used their Insights profiles to explore their own leadership behavioural preferences – based on the idea that leadership behaviours are not restricted to classic stereotypes, and ‘being a leader’ can apply to anyone.
We also worked with individuals’ profiles and a team wheel to explore what all the participants shared, and challenged the idea that midwives might appear in one wheel position while obstetric colleagues would be displaying very different behavioural preferences. Contrary to stereotyping, participants appeared in a range of positions, regardless of their professional identity!
Feedback from participants reflected the day’s leadership and team working focus:
‘Insightful, and a very different perspective on leadership’.
‘Absolutely fascinating and has refocused my self-confidence again on what I bring to a team and why I am a leader’.
‘This has been a fantastic opportunity to become more self-aware and value our differences’.
Going forward from the workshop, participants were able to identify opportunities to implement learning from the day:
‘More understanding of colleagues and how our ‘differences’ may be influenced by our behaviours’.
‘Acknowledging others’ Insights and encouraging more direct conversations’.
‘Utilise others who have different strengths to support different projects’.
With so much emphasis being placed on the importance of multidisciplinary teams in the maternity care context, this workshop is ideal for leaders keen to get the best from their team. Get in touch to find out more about how a multidisciplinary team workshop from Why Not can help.