Implementing Telecare
Review your implementation processes
Any team needs to spend time reviewing how it has worked, and planning how it can improve its performance if it is to be most effective. This is especially true of project teams, which will be coming from different backgrounds, and working together discontinuously. The project manager can help improve performance by ensuring that the team regularly monitors and evaluates its own performance, and plans how to improve. Two tools may help the project team to reflect on their approach;
- methods to implement change,
- and team processes.
Methods to implement change
There are four complementary perspectives on implementation, each with different implications for those managing a project. They are ‘complementary’ in the sense that any large change requires elements of each: a team which uses only one will be less effective than one that uses more. The table below illustrates management actions within each approach, and some tools that can be used.
| Perspective | Themes | Actions |
|---|---|---|
| Structured | Rational, sequential plan, single target, predictability | Writing plans with clear objectives, sub-tasks, responsibilities and completion times |
| Adaptive | Changing circumstances, new possibilities, change seen as positive, speed | Seeking new ideas from stakeholders about scope and direction; testing interim solutions; anticipating problems; re-allocating resources |
| Participative | Ownership, commitment, shared goals, consulting | Identifying stakeholders, inviting ideas, ensuring consensus |
| Political | Conflicting priorities, building and using power | Building allies and coalitions, securing powerful support, managing information and public relations |
The project manager will need to ensure that they and their team make suitable use of all of these approaches as appropriate.
Team processes
Teams work better if the members develop the skill of observing their working processes – that is, how the members work together. This can give them new insight into the successful and unsuccessful group practices, which you can then use to improve future groups.
The project manager should regularly review (e.g. every 6 months) how well the team is working together, by discussing the following with the project team:
- What did people do or say that have helped or hindered the team’s performance?
- What went well and why?
- What did not go well, and how could we improve?
