Teams don't happen by chance

Teams Don’t Happen By Chance

By Dr. Michael Perusich

Basketball coach Phil Jackson famously said, “Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the Me for the We.”

Powerful and true words.  Teams are built not by talent, but from hard work, perseverance, and training.  Great teams become great because they set out to practice practice practice…and then practice some more!

We witness many clinic owners lose sight of the value team building brings them.  Effective team building helps to build a trustful in-office culture, develops better collaboration and communication within the team, and creates more engagement from your staff.  All of this brings a big boost to your profits and leads to more “we” than “me”.

By comparison, not having a good team development program in your office creates a path to disengagement, a lack of motivation, and misdirection as each individual works to accomplish only their own tasks with no eye on a unified goal.  The result is an increase in staff turnover due to low job satisfaction and lower profit margins for the owner.

Many doctors avoid team building because it requires non-patient time.  The belief is that if you aren’t in patient care, then you aren’t generating revenue.  On the surface that may be true, but let’s dissect that a bit.

First, scheduling the event is important.  If team building time is not built into your schedule, then it either won’t happen or you’ll have to displace patients.  Also, there are great strategies to create schedule space without losing patient visits.

Second is the value brought forward by team building.  The increases obtained with comradery, efficiency, and communication we’ll lead to more patient visits, more revenue opportunities, and increased capacity without more work.

The third benefit is an intangible one, but nonetheless important.  One of the top reasons why employees leave a job is due to a lack of professional development.  In other words, your staff wants to learn how to do their jobs better, and you retain great employees by taking time to allow them to learn.