By: David Milligan Salt DPM Consultant
Part 1 of 3
I have always enjoyed
watching sports. As a youngster I
started watching The Wide World of Sports.
It was the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat that kept me
engaged. My grandmother and I would
trade off. If I watched Laurence Whelk
with her, then she would watch The Wide World of Sports with me. I remember watching one Sunday when a ski
jumper slipped and fell just before the end of the 90 meter hill. Fortunately he didn’t die. He did however suffer a major
concussion. On any given Sunday he could
see himself on the opening of the show crashing
over and over, and right after his crash the announcer word say “ and
the agony of defeat”. It didn’t seem
fair he had worked so hard for his team and this is how he is remembered. The sad fact is it happens in our dental
offices as well. If we make a mistake,
patients talk about it over and over.
Whether football or
dental, high functioning teams must all be fit enough to meet expectations or
the entire team suffers. In 1987 I had
the opportunity of meeting a retired 33 year old pro football player. This guy was healthy and in remarkable shape,
ran 5 miles a day and trained as if he were still playing football. So why wasn’t he? After playing ball in a small collage and
not being recognized for his talents, his only hope was to be given the
opportunity to try out for the pros.
That chance finally came with the Chicago Bears. In 2 of the 8 years he played, he led the
team in interceptions. In the off season
before the beginning of his 8th year, while recovering from a knee sprain, he
met his new Head Coach Mike Ditka. One
week later he was traded to the Buffalo Bills where he sat out most of the
season. One year later at the ripe old
age of 33, he retired. Mike Ditka took
the bears to the super bowl that year because he made sure every player on his
team was highly trained and capable.
In the two stories, both athletes were ready to sacrifice
their bodies for the team and eventually both did. In every organization at any given moment,
everyone must be ready to sacrifice for the team. Thank goodness when we talk
about sacrificing for the team in Dentistry we are talking about covering for
someone who is sick or maybe working late or stepping away from our egos and
asking for help. What does it take to be
a team player? As a leader your team must know what your expectations are. In the current environment, if your team is
not a high functioning, talented group, you may not survive. In Price Pritchett’s book, The Team Members Hand Book for Team Work
he talks about what it takes to have a great team. Here are a few of the points from the book.
Article originally published by: Tri-County Dental Society
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