Optical Forum

Start Building Sussessful Teams

Managers often employ the word “team” interchangeably with “group” without acknowledging that there is a distinction between groups and teams. Katzenbach and Smith, authors of the book The Wisdom of Teams assert that “Groups don’t become teams because that is what someone calls them”. Essentially, a team is not just any group of people working together; Councils, Committees, and task-forces may or may not become teams. The potential of a team is always greater than the individual contribution of a group of people. Moreover, team potential increases the organization’s performance undermined by hierarchy and organizational boundaries. Managers know that a certain level of discipline is required to make a real team with shared commitment as the essence of the team. Shared commitment distinguish the team as a powerful unit of collective performance from a group where people work as individuals.

In an Optometry practice, a team is the number of eye care professionals with complementary skills who combine those skills to form a shared commitment to a common purpose, to reach given goals, to increase performance, and to approach teamwork in a mutually liable way. All team members must share the same commitment and level of belief whether their purpose is to help people see better in a broad way, become the number one eye care center in the area, provide the most affordable care, provide the best child eye care, or to be the most technologically advanced practice.

The role of an optometrist is very important in shaping the purpose of the team early on in the practice. Except for entrepreneurial teams, most successful teams form their purposes when they are confronted with an opportunity by their higher management. The optometrist should provide the team with the practice performance expectation and challenges while leaving to the team enough flexibility to develop a commitment to that purpose, set goals, and work approach. The worth of a group is the sum of individual contributions by groupmates, however, the worth of a team is higher than the amount of a teammate’s contribution and it accounts for the individual contribution of teammates and the collective enormous capability.
Managers in eye care can differentiate teams the Katzenbach and Smith differentiated teams: teams that recommend things, teams that make things, teams that run things.