How to use the teams together approach

How can we help teams deliver new models of care?

When working with teams to help them change, we draw on these recent developments in behavioural science.

• The Behaviour Change Wheel (e.g. Michie et al. 2014) and its COM-B framework of behaviour.
• The Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy (Michie et al. 2011) which gathers together 93 different behavioural techniques to promote change.
• The theories and techniques tool, which  links  behaviour change  techniques  with  their  mechanisms of action (how they work).

These versatile approaches can also be used to help educators design and evaluate effective health professional training programmes at undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing professional development levels.

We have adapted these tools for use with helping teams deliver new models of care and we follow a five-phase approach, called Teams Together. This structure uses behavioural science to understand what needs to change, what is getting in the way, develop and put in place ideas to help, then measure their impact.

What is the Teams Together approach?

Watch this animation to find out about the five-step approach to helping teams deliver new models of care.

How do I use the Teams Together approach?

Managers and team leads, organisational development practitioners and team members themselves can all helpfully do this work with their teams, whilst using the three key principles of:

1. taking a behavioural approach
2. co-development
3. sustainability, to help change be led by teams.

First, we need to identify a team to work with. We have found that Teams Together works best where:

A change has been decided and now needs to be implemented and where team leaders who are actively involved day-to-day with teams are keen to look for ways to help change happen.

Thinking about who will lead and support this work is really important. People outside the immediate team (e.g. an OD practitioner) can often look at a situation with ‘fresh eyes’ and take a neutral approach. which team members can find helpful, whereas people in the team (e.g. a manager) may have a head start in understanding the particular change issue. Support from more senior leaders, such as with a project steering group, is vital to be able to feedback important structural changes which may be needed, linked to physical opportunity barriers.

Then we follow the five phases in this process, these are:

We have found that the whole process may take up to about 9 months, but it could be quicker if you are embedded within a team. You may find collaborating with health psychologists for part or all of the process useful, if you would like to discuss this, please get in touch.

What have you learnt?

• Behavioural science has theories, methods and tools to help people change: for new models of care these have been refined and adapted the Teams Together approach
• Teams Together includes five phases: identifying, exploring, deciding, implementing and evaluating
• These bring a structured approach to understand what needs to change, what is getting in the way for team members, develop and put in place ideas to help, then measure their impact
• It is helpful to think about who will lead and support this approach, the timing of this work in a team’s integration journey and if you would like to collaborate with behavioural science experts

References:

Michie, S., Atkins, L., and West, R. (2014). The behaviour change wheel: A guide to designing interventions. Silverback publishing: London. Michie, S., Richardson, M., Johnston, M., Abraham, C., Francis, J., Hardeman, W., Eccles, M., Cane, J. & Wood, C. E. (2013). The behavior change technique taxonomy (v1) of 93 hierarchically clustered techniques: building an international consensus for the reporting of behavior change interventions. Annals of behavioral medicine, 46(1), 81-95.