It’s the eggshells that stop us from talking about what we need to do or stop doing to elevate team performance.  What are eggshells?  Eggshells are the fragile feelings that arise when we try to talk about what’s not working or what could be improved.  The tough stuff. 

 Eggshells are a result of what we perceive based on our past individual experiences and not necessarily the other person’s intent.  Some of the Eggshells I am referring to are; fear, anger, judgment, retaliation, insecurity, nothing changes, peer pressure, hurt feelings, disrespect, or it’s not my problem.  Eggshells stop us from addressing the Elephants (the unstated issues or concerns) in the office. 

 We create barriers between each other by laying our eggshells all around ourselves and worrying about stepping on those that others have laid around themselves.  We believe if we talk about what is not working or what needs improvement we will step on their eggshells.  Almost everything becomes too uncomfortable or off-limits to discuss.  So we don’t!  Instead we just keep everything inside to avoid the eggshells and the practice environment deteriorates.  The chance to make good things happen, (better results, better relationships, and more responsibility) disappear.  What appears instead is a herd of elephants.  Everyone knows they are there and yet no one will talk about them for fear of stepping on an eggshell. 

The problem is, if we don’t discuss the issues as they happen, they don’t go away.  Instead the issues become elephants and the herd continues to grow until it takes over the entire practice.  We end up tiptoeing around each other’s eggshells and pretending the elephants don’t exist.  Communication between team members becomes emotionally charged or non-existent.  The office environment becomes stressful and negative.  Performance and patient experience plummets! 

 To overcome the eggshells we need to first acknowledge they exist.  Have a team meeting to talk about the eggshells in the office.  Have each team member identify which eggshells they surround themselves with most often.  They are their hot buttons and can be set off very easily.  Once the eggshells have been identified discuss the necessity of talking about what is working and what is not as it happens regardless of their existence.  This proactive communication helps to prevent and remove the elephants in the room.  Reinforce the message; we are all working together towards the same goal of a healthy office environment. 

 Talking about tough stuff as it occurs will eliminate the eggshells and elephants and promote a happy, healthy, high performing team environment.