If there is one thing that is going to make or break your practice it is your team!  In this blog post I will be sharing some of the common habits I see amongst awesome teams.

Habit # 1 Clarity of purpose & direction
If you don't know where you are going how do you expect to get there?  The same applies to your team.  A vision & purpose developed in partnership with your team is an essential step to achieve this.  As Simon Sinek says 'people don't buy what you do they buy why you do it'!  Make sure your team understands and appreciates why you all do what you do and set a clear vision of what you are trying to achieve. 
   
Habit # 2 Clarity of Responsibility
Does everyone in your team understand their job?  They know what their key responsibilities are and they know when and how they are expected to deliver them?  I'm not talking about having job descriptions, of course these are an important tool but don't assume because someone has a job description they understand their job.  Once everyone understands the expectations of their own role they must also understand the role of their team mates.  It's great to have reliable team members who are great at their job however a back up plan is a necessity.

Habit # 3 Empowerment
An empowered team is an essential element of a successful practice.  Once your team understand their responsibilities and there are clear expectations for delivery of a role give them the trust and ownership to do a good job.  Micro-management is a real problem in many practices and it stamps out empowerment resulting in teams reluctant to go that extra mile.

Habit # 4 Seek first to understand then to be understood
One of the 7 habits of highly effective people identified by Stephen Covey is hugely relevant in building an awesome team.  If you are genuinely interested in your team members, you listen to their problems and triumphs and I mean sincerely listen, your team will appreciate you all the more for it.  The real benefit is that by demonstrating understanding your team will mimic this behaviour and your team and patients will be feel better understood resulting in improved trust and relationships.

Habit # 5 Synergy
A team that truly understands their purpose and direction as well as each others responsibilities ultimately leads to better collaboration.  A collaborative team works together in synergy, they feed off each other making decisions together.  The benefit of a collaborative approach is a more efficient workflow and increased productivity.  By working together to achieve a common goal and utilising everyone's skills to full effect your team will be truly awesome.
 
Habit # 6 Prioritise
An awesome team knows what is important.  This comes from a clear understanding of purpose, direction & responsibilities.  By knowing what is important your team will be able to prioritise workloads to achieve success.

Habit # 7 System driven
A practice runs on systems, good systems are the key to success.  Systems should be clear and straightforward and regularly reviewed to make sure they are working.  Systems should make life easier and help the business run smoothly.  Each team member should be fully trained in all systems relevant to their role and should have a good understanding of all systems outside the scope of their role.

Habit# 8 Proactive not reactive
Have you ever come into work on a Monday morning and thought 'why are there so many gaps in my book this week'?  The likelihood is that the thought will then disappear until you find yourself in that gap because you get 'busy' with the day.  The problem with this is that the gap will not be filled.  If your team are working proactively, looking ahead to identify gaps and collaborating to fill those gaps the problem is solved.  Proactive teams identify problems before they become problems and use systems to beat the problems.

If you would like help to build an awesome team feel free to get in touch.