The DAISY Team Award As A Way to Honor Teamwork

By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN

Nursing is a team sport, but it might not seem that way in today’s environment. Many team members are exhausted, burned out, and focused on their personal needs. As one manager recently observed – it’s me, me, and more me. When I raise the question about how whatever issue we are discussing will impact others on the team, I often get a blank stare. How do we make teamwork a core value again?

This leader is not alone in observing her department’s eroding level of teamwork and camaraderie. The past three years have been massively disruptive to teamwork as team members rotate in and out of the unit, and few core staff remains. In addition to team turnover, most team rituals have been disrupted, and even to this day, most health systems have left masking and social distancing in place.

The demographic changes in the workforce have also led to changes in how teamwork is perceived. Our youngest nurses, Generation Z, have less experience working on teams and value their individualism as a generational cohort. Social influencers promote an individualistic mindset. Team backup is not a natural behavior. A nurse manager told me he put a sign up in his unit to remind staff that- none of us sit down till all of us can sit down.

There is an old saying that – what gets measured gets down. In talking with leaders in health systems, teamwork is not always part of their nursing performance evaluations. As one leader told me, we assumed it was a value until it wasn’t. 

Getting teamwork back on track will take intentional nurse-leader actions. One opportunity is to honor teamwork during Nurses Week with the DAISY Team Award. This award recognizes that while an idea to achieve better patient and family outcomes may start with one individual, it often takes an entire team to implement successfully. The DAISY Team Award is designed to honor collaboration by two or more people, led by a nurse, who identify and meet patient and/or patient family needs by going above and beyond the traditional nursing role. Over the past three months, I have heard many stories about teams that have gone above and beyond for patients and their families.

Why not start this year by recognizing one of your nursing teams that have gone above and beyond? The criteria include the following:

• Teams must be led by a nurse or a group of nurses
• Teams must be comprised of 2 or more individuals
• Team members exemplify your organization’s values and embody your mission
• Team members are role models of collaboration and teamwork that make a difference in patients’ lives, families, employees, and the community.
• The Team’s project should be described in detail, including outcomes.

It is a small but incremental step to acknowledging that great teamwork matters, and we will honor it.