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Teams of the Year Award Spotlight: Healthcare and Organisation Management Group

4 April 2024

The Healthcare and Organisation Management Group share their advice and experience of excellent teamwork.

A team photograph taken outdoors in a park.

In 2021 the UCL IEHC Equality Action Group launched the Teams of the Year Awards, a brand new initiative to celebrate productive, rewarding and enjoyable team working. The awards were then rolled out across the UCL Faculty of Population Health Sciences.

Two UCL IEHC teams were among the winners of the 2023 awards, the Healthcare and Organisation Management Group and the Online Master of Public Health (MPH) Team.

Healthcare and Organisation Management Group

Team members: Naomi Fulop, Saheli Gandhi, Stephanie Kumpunen, Pei Li Ng, Josefine Magnusson, Angus Ramsay, Holly Walton and Holly Elphinstone.

Which of your teams’ achievements are you most proud of?

There are some recent research-related achievements that we are particularly proud of:

  • We received funding for the NIHR Rapid Service Evaluation Team for a further five years, which commenced in October 2023.
  • Since then, our team collaborated on developing an innovative approach to involving and engaging patients and the public in this research. This is working really well so far, and we’re looking forward to continuing to see how this evolves.

From a teaching perspective, we recently finished teaching our research-led module -  ‘Key issues in health service delivery, policy and management’ for this year. We developed this in 2019, and it is now a core module of the MSc Population Health. Each year, we really enjoy updating the module in light of students’ feedback, delivering it with a range of guest speakers from health and care settings, and learning from our students.

How do you work well as a team?

We have strong working relationships, which we have developed through open communication, prioritisation of team members’ wellbeing, and a motivating work environment.

  • We have an inclusive culture - everyone’s voice and ideas are viewed equally regardless of seniority and role, and everyone can contribute.
  • We draw on our individual strengths to advise each other and help solve problems as they arise.
  • We celebrate our successes (individual and team) and dedicate time to learning from unsuccessful ventures.
  • We think it’s good to talk: we come together as a team (in person or online) in various ways, including
    • Daily check-ins via our Microsoft Teams channel to discuss plans and progress.
    • Monthly meetings to reflect on strategy and development – chairing of these is rotated amongst the team.
    •  A Friday afternoon catch-up, where we reflect on the week, provide support and advice – and discuss our weekend plans!

What advice would you give to others looking to improve their teamwork?

It’s important to think about what your team is trying to achieve, and how you want to work together in a collaborative and motivating way. Some of our teamwork strategies came out of our need to connect and support each other during the pandemic (e.g. the daily check-ins and weekly team chats), which the team enjoyed and carried on. But, this won’t necessarily be a good approach for all teams!

Why should staff enter the Teams of the Year Awards?

It was lovely to apply for this award, as it’s not often that you stop and think about how your team works together, the things that help the team to succeed and celebrate the team’s achievements. Applying for this award was recognition of all that our team has achieved recently and it was nice to pause and celebrate that.

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