Cristina McElwee, senior administrative assistant to the MPIP CEO, submitted one of two winning articles about teamwork in our ongoing series of articles about our SPIRIT values.

I went home late last Friday, exhausted from a long and strenuous day at the office, and I was not looking forward to the many chores awaiting me. Lo and behold, to my surprise, my children had cleaned up and my husband was cooking dinner.  While this doesn’t happen on a regular basis, I think this was a fantastic example of teamwork, and I can only imagine what our family could do if we all kept this up.

Every single employee should have the same goal — to achieve our mission to “Improve the health of people we serve with a SPIRIT of compassion and knowledge.” Each TTP employee has diverse skills and personalities, which allow us to not only compensate for weaknesses, but also to rely on other’s strengths. While physicians are a key component of TTP, they cannot bill without the correct codes, appointments cannot be scheduled without PSS and employees do not get paid without HR. These are examples of a united workforce — the driving force behind all great businesses.

Communication is a key component of teamwork; we need to be able to not only actively listen, but also voice our opinions, thoughts and ideas. This is not applicable to managers and supervisors alone — this applies to each and every employee. You may not agree with another employee, but give them the respect of listening to their ideas. I am sure you know about the man in Ohio who came up with the idea of parmesan bites for Domino’s. What you probably don’t know is that by open communication and discussion of new products, Domino’s managed to increase their profit by 11.6 percent last year.

Teamwork does not mean that everyone gets along. Teamwork means everyone works together in spite of disagreements or varying opinions. When you are a part of a team, you have someone to help you. A great example is our government.  It seems that our elected officials aren’t out to achieve the main goal of helping and governing the people, but rather like the two main parties just want to disagree and block each other. Can you image what great strides could be taken if they actually worked together as a team?

T – trust - You need to not only trust others to do their jobs, but to be dependable as well.
E – enthusiasm – Take pride in your work. A good attitude is contagious!
A – ambition – What allows an entity to move forward; to reach for higher goals. Take the initiative to learn new skills or take a class to further your knowledge.
M – motivation – This is what drives us to succeed.

“The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.” - Babe Ruth

Cristina received an autographed copy of Dr. Berk’s book “Anatomy of a Kidnapping.”