Engaging Your Team

This six-part educational video series is designed in particular for those who have been in a rural health leadership role for two years or less, but it is also relevant to leaders who have been in their roles for longer or who may be training or mentoring new leaders. The series may also serve as a valuable resource for those who may be transitioning to a leadership role within the next year.

Description and Topics Covered

In this module, we’ll explore what it means to engage your team and share some strategies for strengthening engagement by developing your team’s knowledge and skills, making collaborative decisions, and building a strong team identity.

Delegation
Coaching
Collaborative decision making
Fostering a team identity
Building your team: Making hiring decisions
Developing your team
Knowledge management

Reflection and Discussion Questions

Do you delegate as often as you’d like? If not, why is this? How might you change the way you think about delegation to give your team members more opportunities to grow and develop?
Think of a time when someone delegated something to you. Where would you place yourself on the skill-will matrix on that specific task? Was the task delegated to you in a way that was a good fit for where you were on the matrix? What was the outcome? What did you learn in the process?
Think of a coach who had an impact on your life. It could be someone who helped you with sports, academics, or other activities in your personal or professional life. What did they do that made them a good coach? How can you bring similar value to your coaching relationships at work?
What decisions could you get your team more involved in? How might you use their input? How might you best lead the team through the process?
How often do you celebrate successes with your team? If heavy workloads make it hard to celebrate, are there other ways to recognize success that don’t take as much time?

Recommended Activities

Spend some time identifying opportunities to delegate tasks that will help each of your team members grow and develop. Use the skill-will matrix to determine which quadrant each person might be in on a given task – and plan your approach to delegation accordingly.
Use the Coaching Conversation Planner to plan and carry out a coaching conversation with one or more of your team members.
Identify opportunities for your team members to teach each other what they know. Engage the entire team in the planning process!
Find a mentor inside or outside your organization who might be willing to share what they know about leadership with you. Ask them how they approach the various topics covered in this program – and ask them to help you continue your development as a leader.
Lead your team in a discussion about the team’s purpose, using the suggested questions in this module.
Find ways to celebrate team successes. Ask your team for input about ways the team might recognize success in a meaningful way.