A message from Terry: Summer is a great time for fun and games. Kids love to play Tug-of-War, Red Rover, or even King of the Castle.  But games that are fun on the playground can wreak havoc if they invade your practice culture.

• Tug-of-War pits two teams against each other, and it’s the most fun when the teams are evenly matched. But when your team splits into factions that have opposing ideas about how things should run, with your patients as the innocent rope, the stand-off is demoralizing for all concerned. Even if one side gets their way through sheer force and stubbornness, there is no real winner.
• Red Rover finds two factions facing off. They take turns daring the weakest member of the opposing squad to try to break through the line they’ve formed. It’s mean-spirited, all about exclusion, denial and exploiting weaknesses. If behaviors in your practice tend to divide and conquer, there can be no true winners.
• King of the Castle values the individual, rather than the team. The person with the upper hand defends their ‘top dog’ position against all efforts to dislodge them. In an office setting, when someone is determined to hoard power, communication becomes adversarial and territorial, ignoring new solutions or compromises. As a consequence, there is no growth – except in the frustration felt by those ‘beneath’ them.

Remember, people support what they help to create. In a healthy practice culture, the goal is to honor cooperative approaches. When you encounter playground bullies or divisive agendas, lead them to  a better game – one where everybody can win.