1.- The example
In an operating room, in a complicated oncology operation, such as the stomach cancer reflected in the photo, there is the surgeon, who is the boss and the leader.
There are also the anesthetist, the pathologist, the scrub nurses, and the specialized nurses. Let's see why the way this team works is a good example for the company in today's world.
2.- Each one addresses himself
The anesthesiologist begins by making the decision regarding anesthesia and giving it. You have to take it just because no one, not even your boss, knows what to do. The first conclusion is that in a company with a High Performance Culture, the director must have collaborators who direct themselves, organize themselves, plan, establish their objectives, make their decisions, take responsibility and achieve good results. If you have collaborators who do not know more than you about many things, they are not useful to you.
As a corollary, note that it is not only that each person has to direct himself, but also that it would be very difficult for someone outside to be able to direct him effectively.
3.- Information is responsibility
Immediately the anesthetist has to inform the surgeon and the entire team "personally" of the anesthesia situation and also has to receive "personal" information from the scrubbers, who are usually engineers who handle complicated equipment. All of this critical information is "bottom-up", from anesthetist to surgeon; and then in every way. Here it is evident that if the information does not flow well, the patient can die. In a company nobody dies, but the malfunction of the information triggers the costs of internal coordination, of which nobody is aware because they tend to remain hidden, and competitiveness falls.The flow of critical information in the operating room takes place "face to face" in a very precise way, with unusual speed and a large volume of enriching nuances. In the company they seem to believe that the information critical to success is on the computer or in business and financial reports. It's a mistake. The vital information is in the line of direct contact with the client, with the product and with the service and according to the immediate events. The normal thing is to have a tremendous avalanche of information, but the key information to be able to do the job well is conspicuous by its absence.
4.- The strategy
In the operating room there is a clear common goal that everyone shares. Save the life of the patient, taking away stomach cancer. No one would think of asking, "Shouldn't we have to operate on cataracts?" Or, Could it be the bunions? Which does happen in the company. Very rarely does the company have such a clear mission, although it needs it equally so that communication, innovation and teamwork work and are as good as in the operating room.
5.- Concentration on the task
In the operating room, no one thinks of leaving saying "Gentlemen, I have to go with the Works Council to see about the holidays" or "I have a meeting with the cost department to reduce the energy consumption of the service". At the company we start with three proper priorities; but after three days we have 40 more. And when we see how hung up and out of ourselves we are all, they give us a course on "taking advantage of time", the "important" and "urgent", with which we clarify even less, by explaining how you have to solve what is not it has a solution.
6.- Teamwork
The spirit of teamwork demands "indivisibility" and there should be no cracks. This group of the operating room, as in any company, is made up of a group of specialists, each of whom does a very different task, and useless by itself. Note that no one can do their job well on their own if they don't take into account the work that others have to do. Neither one can achieve results. The objective can only be achieved by the team; and it is brilliantly accomplished insofar as it is indivisible. Teamwork is not simply a matter of consensus, tolerance and a good atmosphere but, above all, of responsibility, humility and commitment to results.
7.- No one can fail
A teamwork is good first when each and every one of its members does their own work brilliantly well. No one can fail. The operating room, like the management team of a company, are types of teams that work in series (not in parallel) and if one of their members fails, everything fails.
