Teamwork Tips From the Front Lines

"We sponsor an A.A.S. Degree Program in Orthotics and Prosthetics, and we feel we have a great team," said Jerry D. Wilson, department head, Small Business Occupations, Oklahoma State University-Okmulgee.

Wilson elaborated, "We have a great team because we are all working toward the achievement of objectives with a limited amount of resources. Because of our extra effort, we have been able to create new resources and make significant accomplishments toward achieving these goals." It is the team leader's job to focus the team on those goals, he added.

"You can't solve today's problems with today's thinking," Wilson said, paraphrasing a quote by Albert Einstein. The team leader needs to be "an agent of change," helping his team to think in new terms, to think "outside the box."

An informal meeting in the early stages of team organization allows the group to consider team spirit and to identify a core set of team values, Wilson said. Team members should feel free to add their input to this developing value system.

It also is important to be aware of the corporate culture within which the team is working, Wilson noted. "If the team's values don't match the company's culture, especially in the case of large corporations, the team will accomplish little."

This meeting enables the group to know one another's strengths and talents, aligning these with task assignments. The meeting also helps identify possible conflicts or weaknesses in individual team members and begins to promote team harmony.

"After this session, you can start establishing team relationships and create an environment which fosters trust and a feeling of belonging to the team," Wilson continued. "During this stage you can group team members who work well together and/or complement one another's abilities."

The next session should focus on forming a team vision and/or mission statement, Wilson said. Team work goals can then be set and given priorities. The next step is assigning a work program to each member. "To monitor and evaluate team performance, the team can establish baseline performance measurements or benchmarks."

When the team has accomplished its goals, the team leader should set a time and place to celebrate the performance and accomplishments of the team, Wilson said. "Everyone should be recognized for his or her contributions to the team. This is a very important phase of team management."

O&P Facility Owners Comment "They are not my workers-they are my partners," said Juan Carlos Camacho Gómez, owner of Gómez Ortopedia, O&P facility in Aguascalientes, Mexico. "That is why I say they work with me and not for me." This view of his employees has helped build a strong team in his facility, Camacho said.

Keeping the team together is an important factor. Camacho noted that most of his staff have been with him since he began his business in 1980. The number of employees has varied between 16 and 22. The youngest employee is 23, the oldest is a 68-year-old shoemaker who has been with Camacho's company for 21 years.

Staff members work a half-day on Saturday, then enjoy a meal together in family-style camaraderie.

"Preston and I may be owners, but we are not dictators," said Teri Powers-Watts, CPO, CPed, Alabama Prosthetics and Orthotics, Montgomery, Alabama, as she considered reasons why they have a strong team. "Actually, our head technician has often described our company as a family-dysfunctional-but still family," she added with a smile in her words.

"We genuinely care about one another," she said. Although factors contributing to a successful team could make a list a mile long, she said, "I'm going to add just one more, and that's respect for one another."

"I started in this field at an early age," said Tom Bremer, C.P., Flint, Michigan. Bremer wanted to start his own business "so that I could be free to treat people the way I want to treat them." If a practitioner treats patients well, they will go out and spread the word. Bremer believes in making human needs a priority. "We're different from most businesses. We don't have time clocks." If someone needs to leave to take care of a sick child or other family-related needs, that's a priority, Bremer said. They can just go. "People have lives and families, and businesses need to be supportive."

Bremer's business philosophy has paid off by producing a team of motivated, committed staff members. "When you take care of people, they become totally committed and feel part of the business," Bremer said. "We have to realize that people are on their own personal journeys and consider how our business fits into that."

Bremer believes in taking a long-term view. "We don't focus on money, we focus on the patient. To provide good patient care, we may need to do some work we don't get paid for."

Much of the success and growth of Harry J. Lawall & Son, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is due to its team approach to all its operations, according to Eileen Levis, administrator. "Those processes are borderless at times to promote efficiency and shared data," she explained. "Our infrastructure comprises many teams."

William K. "Pete" Abbott, CP, concisely expresses his thoughts what makes his team at Abbott O&P Labs, Jefferson City, Missouri, a great one: "It's easy. We all have the same goal: exceptional patient care."

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Related posts:

Blatchford/Endolite Salutes Paralympic Winners

European Medical Equipment Group Increases Lobbying Activities

European Medical Equipment Group Increases Lobbying Activities

RECENT NEWS

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O&P JOBS

Open Bionics hiring for CPO’s!

ABC Certified Prosthetist/Orthotist/ Resident – Memphis TN/Southaven MS

Part Time Certified Prosthetist

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