Why it helps you
A team job plan allows the service to define what it is able to do, within the resources it has. This is very useful for managers and commissioners and is in stark contrast to the limited information commissioners have most of the time. It also allows teams to anticipate and describe the effect of losses of clinical time. These could be maternity leave, sick leave, the effect of a new IT system etc.
A team job plan enables you to move capacity around e.g. if someone takes on a short-term piece of service development or training or goes off sick- what capacity and skills have been lost? How can this be made up? It also allows you to maximise capacity when someone is coming up to leaving. Typically, when someone is about to leave they do not take on any intervention work (Partnership). If you have a team job plan you can move that person to do Choice appointments and release someone else to do Partnership.
A team job plan also helps on an individual level. An individual plan, by describing their working patterns, both sets a level of performance that is reasonable and required, as well as limiting the amount taken on so staff don’t feel burnt out or over –burdened. As the plan is transparent for all, and uses the same numbers, it encourages a sense of equity and fairness as everyone is on the same page.
Team job plans also help develop a learning culture. They establish the framework for Core and Specific work, place in the team timetable lots of peer group discussion and consultation. With the high degree of transparency of clinical work between clinicians, learning is encouraged.