Developing Team Learning Objectives

31st May 2014

Introduction

The intention for all aspects of AMBIT is to try to start from the actual state of mind rather than a position of where a person or team should be. This could be characterised as part of the mentalizing stance (see The Therapist's Mentalizing Stance)

A team does not have a single mind so for a team to develop some shared objectives around training is not as simple as for an individual. It usually requires the team to think about this together and share ideas about what they hope to get from AMBIT training.

In this process it is not expected that there will be complete agreement between all team members about key objectives for the training but the intention is to make the real objectives of members of the team more explicit so that team members can understand each other more easily during the training.

Learning Outcomes

(a) To describe the team's existing competencies and expertise
(b) To understand AMBIT's stance of Respect local practice and expertise
(b) To offer experience of mentalizing and being mentalized
(c) To develop shared training outcome goals in the team

Training Exercise

  1. Divide into teams
  2. Teams hold a Fishbowl discussion (with consultants drawn from other teams) to discuss their existing skills and expertise ("WHAT DOES THIS TEAM DO, AND WHAT ARE WE PARTICULARLY GOOD AT DOING?"). (10 minutes)
  3. Consultants feed this information back through a discussion about their experiences in the "Fishbowl": the emphasis is NOT on consultants being a "therapist" or "fixer" for the team, but to be a "faithful relayer" of what that team is. (10 minutes)
  4. Members of teams now work in pairs to identify the training goals that each other has in mind: "IF YOU GOT TO THE END OF THIS TRAINING AND IT HAD "WORKED" - WHAT WOULD BE DIFFERENT FOR YOU AND YOUR TEAM?". (10 minutes)
  5. Then move back into separate teams (in large trainings) or the large group (small trainings), where each individual should attempt to represent the goals of their PARTNER (not their own!) (10 minutes)
  6. Reflections in the large group (multi-teams) (10 minutes)
    1. What it is like to have your competencies described and acknowledged by another?
    2. How hard it is to stick with the other person's goals and not muddle one's own?
    3. Were you represented accurately, and what was that like?
    4. Are individual teams able to condense 3 - 5 shared training goals? (If need be, break out into teams again, and spend 5 - 10 minutes clarifying these.)
  7. TRAINERS RECORD THESE in the team's new local versions of the AMBIT manual.

Time Allocation

45 - 55 minutes