Chapter 4: Form a Team

INTRODUCTION

Your evidence-based practice (EBP) work is starting to build momentum. You have a clear purpose that matches both a need and priority. Now is the time to build a team (Iowa Model Collaborative, 2017). A well-built team is important for successful EBP work. Bring together a diverse group of people with different perspectives, abilities, and knowledge to achieve what an individual could not do alone. Strategically build the team to accomplish more work faster and attain better outcomes. Building your team is an early investment in creating the collective learning and collective action needed to promote adoption of EBP later in the process (Atkins et al, 2017; Fernandez et al., 2019; Li et al., 2018; Rangachari, 2020). Distribute components of the work among team members to use each member’s strengths and contribute to synergistic problem-solving (Bell et al., 2018; K. L. Hall et al., 2018; Kossaify et al., 2017; Rosen et al., 2018). Teams are more innovative and creative and make better decisions with fewer mistakes because of the rich collaboration between diverse members (Aarons, Reeder, et al., 2019; Baik & Zierler, 2019; Baker et al., 2006; Bennett & Gadlin, 2012; Sangaleti et al., 2017; Yeboah-Antwi et al., 2013).

APPLY TEAM SCIENCE

Let’s discuss how to apply evidence about teamwork to this step of the EBP process. Team science is a means of solving complex problems in healthcare through collaboration across disciplines with the goal to expedite translation of knowledge into clinical practice (Aarons, Reeder, et al., 2019; Bennett & Gadlin, 2012; Garg et al., 2018; K. L. Hall et al., 2018; Little et al., 2017; Pitzen et al., 2020). Team science uses the diverse and collective knowledge, backgrounds, strengths, and expertise of individuals to design innovative and effective solutions for complex clinical and operational issues to improve patient care (Little et al., 2017; Schwarz, 2016). Be proactive by incorporating team science into the work of the team, setting ground rules, cultivating a shared mental model, and ensuring psychological safety for the most effective, productive, and innovative team. There are many organizational benefits of team science (ASQ.com, n.d.; Baik & Zierler, 2019; Burgess et al., 2020; Ma et al., 2015; Sangaleti et al., 2017; Yeboah-Antwi et al., 2013):

• Builds interprofessional relationships

• Improves communication

• Increases understanding of team members’ roles

• Creates a culture for change

• Ensures psychological safety

• Gives ownership of a project to clinicians

• Improves job satisfaction

• Increases feelings of cohesiveness and involvement

• Improves clinical workflow

• Increases behaviors that improve teamwork in clinical settings

Work Like a Team

The daily work of teams is to integrate and build synergy while balancing the autonomy and different backgrounds that brought the group together (Sangaleti et al., 2017). Effective teams have internal cohesion, have the ability to communicate openly and ...