I love this quote by Phil Jackson; “The strength of the team is each individual.  The strength of each member is the team!” 

Here are four cornerstones to strengthen teamwork!

TRUST

CORE VALUES

COMMUNICATION

CLEAR ROLES

Trust

Trust is a cornerstone of happy, healthy, and high performing teamwork! The dictionary defines trust as instinctive unquestioning belief in and reliance upon something.  The trust I am suggesting is not one of blind faith but instead one of confidence!  Confident trust is based on consistency!   Consistency of good reasons to trust based on significant past evidence and experiences.

Some examples of a low trust:

•          Difficulty getting the team on board and willing to follow their lead

•          Not keeping the team in the loop with details that pertain to the patients, team and practice

•          Adding rules or steps for everyone to compensate for the inadequacies of a few

•          Extra staff to cover for lack of accountability with a specific team member

•          Redundant systems and processes

Together as a team create your list of Trust Agreements. 

•          Be transparent by keeping everyone in the loop

•          Be consistent with daily tasks

•          Address questions or concerns with only the source

•          Help when you see help is needed

•          Ask for help when help is needed

•          Do what you say you will do when you say you will

•          Don’t gossip and stop gossip

•          Tell the truth using compassionate words and tone

•          Don’t be late or absent for trivial reasons

Core Values

Healthy team cultures rely on clear and consistent core values.  They will help guide the team’s attitude, behavior, and communication.  It’s very difficult to get others to follow our lead if we don’t even know who we are and what we stand for.   Owner doctors, what 4 adjectives in order of priority describe your core values?  Email JudyKay@PracticeSolutionsInc.net for a sample list. 

They are important for the entire team to know and understand as they will help guide making decisions.  Defining the core values will help avoid the distractions of the daily mundane and other people’s shoulds.  They will also establish a strategy for how to show up every day.  Core values become a blueprint on teamwork expectations.  Every action, attitude or conversation is to be examined before proceeding.  Does this action, attitude or conversation support the core values?  

Clear Communication

Healthy team cultures are built on open and honest communication.  Doctor to doctor, doctor to team, team to team and team to doctor.  Clear communication, conveyed through defined channels, is critical for teamwork.  Larger and multi-location practices will benefit greatly by creating and following a clear and consistent communication flow chart.  The flow chart will define who goes to who, when and how. Positive and honest feedback will build trust and create clarity. 

Encourage team members to ask questions, address concerns, as well as discuss processes and procedures.  There are so many moving parts in a dental practice.  Chaos and discord will arise without ongoing clear and compassionate communication.  Together as a team create your list of Communication Agreements. 

Clear Roles

Everyone on the team needs to understand their role and responsibilities that contribute to the team’s success.  It is important for every team member to become proficient at their role as well as cross trained to help support their co-workers.  Cross-training also helps create an awareness of their co-workers’ responsibilities and lessens judgment. 

Every team will experience ups and downs with staffing.  Putting untrained or inexperienced people in roles will lead to frustration, stress, accidents, and mistakes.  Sustaining successful teamwork requires a commitment to ongoing training.   Establish clear training expectations for new hires that include specific weekly and monthly goals.  There will be times that training will take a priority over productivity.  Investing in training time on the front end will reap quicker quality results on the back end. 

Cultivate the four cornerstones, trust, core values, clear communication, clear roles, in your practice and you will harvest happy, healthy, and high performing teamwork!