There is No “I” in Team

There is no, “I” in Team

Throughout all my last few blogs, I have repeatedly been emphasizing the importance of teamwork and togetherness. Today I want to share with you some very common yet very important facts about an organization and its employees, that we as managers and small business owners tend to over look at times. And those very facts, are the key elements in making a difference in our overall team performance:

1. Employee no longer believes in what the company does and stand for.
2. Employee “s job doesn’t tap into their natural abilities.
3. Employee don’t understand the purpose of their job.
4. They aren’t gaining new skills and don’t feel challenged enough.
5. They don’t find joy in the victories at work.
6. They don’t feel their work is valued.
7. They feel their growth opportunities are severely limited.
8. The employee has lost respect for his boss.
9. The employee has an “itch” for a new job that is overwhelming.

With that said over the years, as your experience grows, along with dental practice pro by your side, guiding you throughout the process, you would have acquired an innate power and skill to influence people and the office environment into a friendly and helpful workspace.

First and foremost fact to kick start team building process is:

“There is no I in a TEAM”

Just the realization and adoption of this simple fact, “There is no I in TEAM”, by each and every team member will be our biggest obstacle in getting team building started in the right direction. As I understand from being part of team, that team building and performance appraisal is considered the most challenging tasks by many business entrepreneurs. When it comes to patient care and successful dental practices however, performance appraisal becomes even more daunting. Two words
Accountability and responsibility can make all the difference. As Accountability ( infers rules ) and
response-ability (infers caring )

Each team member may believe that they are responsible for what they do, but not for what they think. The truth is that each team member is responsible for what they think because it is only at this level that one can exercise this choice. Why I say that, because, what you do comes from what you think. As the saying goes, if you hang out with chickens, you’re going to cluck and if you hang out with Eagles, you’re going to fly.

Each team member at end of the day should Ask himself the following:
1. Help a co-worker
2. Develop a future professional
3. Add value
4. See something Do something
5. Makes excellent choices
6. Serve others
7. Had a positive attitude
Like it is said practice what you preach, “if it is to be, it’s up to me” because it is not only what we do, but also what we do not do for which we are accountable.

1. Opportunity to express opinion:
Lets try to give every single individual in your team an opportunity to express their opinion. It’s as simple as this. When people don’t unload their opinions and feel like they’ve been listened to, they won’t really get on board.

2. Cultural backgrounds
It’s a thought I ’ve pondered for quiet sometime now; that we as practitioners, are increasingly working with a dispersed patient base, different cultural backgrounds, speak different languages and were raised in different countries with different value systems.

With our team members distributed in different locations and coming from different cultures and backgrounds, it is important to ensure that the entire process of performance evaluation is perceived as fair and upright by all team members. Over the years, I have learned that teams are the typical building blocks of an organization. They provide companies with the means to combine the various skills, talents and perspectives of a group of individuals to achieve common interests and goals.

Anybody who has been in business or manages staff on behalf of our organization and dental office should know, and always should try to remember and reinforce: “There is no I in TEAM“.

* Request I would appreciate if we Could all review the feedbacks so I can make improvements accordingly.

Kind regards,
Dr Hira

Written by

Dr. Hira, County Dental Group