Accountability
Article:
A Picture
of Teamwork
Yesterday,
someone posted on Yahoo! Answers a question
that I happened to come across. He wrote: "I've been asked
to read the QBQ! book at work to help improve teamwork. What
does the QBQ! message of personal accountability have to do
with teamwork?"
I
answered the question saying "Everything!"
It has everything to do with teamwork. No team can succeed without
each member asking, "How can I help the team reach its
goals?" and "What can I do today to support the team?"
I then prattled on about how great teams get rid of blame, finger-pointing,
and victim thinking and that's what QBQ! is all about. I believed
it was a fine answer.
But
then today I got this story below and thought, Gee, should've
just posted this—it sums it all up!
Our
QBQ! QuickNote story today comes from Janice, a Sr. Administrative
Specialist for Operations at the Union Colony Fire and Rescue
Authority in Greeley, Colorado. Enjoy.
-------------------------------
John,
I
had the following story reported to me by a firefighter on our
team named Kevin. We use your QBQ! and Flipping the
Switch books in our new recruit training, and I routinely forward
the QBQ! QuickNote messages to our personnel. We wanted to pass
this "QBQ! in action" story along to you.
Late
one evening recently, our crews responded to a sick child call
at an apartment building. This young mother with two
little kids had visited the emergency room earlier that day
and returned back home with a feverish child. There had been
some confusion due to language barriers and apparently she hadn't
understood the emergency room instructions she'd been given.
Our
fire and rescue crew contacted the hospital to verify that the
ER had instructed the mom to go to the store to purchase some
over-the-counter meds for her child's mild fever. Once
she understood this (with the help of our fire and rescue crew),
it turned out that she had no means to obtain the needed medication.
She was short on both transportation and money. So our team
and the paramedics decided to pool their money and buy the medication
for her.
A
couple guys headed to the Wal-Mart on 23rd Avenue in Greeley
to purchase the items, but didn't quite have enough cash.
So the Wal-Mart pharmacy night shift manager, Nathan, stepped
in and took money out of his own pocket to cover the difference.
The crew returned to the woman's apartment and gave the medication
to the mother and all was well!
-------------------------------
Teamwork—everybody
pitching in, caring, asking The Question Behind the Question,
"What can I do?" It's just so simple. Whether
in a business, nonprofit, school, family, church or community,
this is what teamwork is all about. The truism "many hands
make light work" will never die.
Thanks
to Kevin and Janice for sharing this picture of people helping
people!
John
G. Miller
Author of QBQ! The Question Behind the Question® and Flipping
the Switch
With
Kristin Lindeen
QBQ! speaker/workshop facilitator
Did
You Know?
Did
you know personal accountability training will allow your employees
to thrive in change?! Isn't 'Change Management' one of the biggest
challenges businesses are facing today?
Why
not explore QBQ! more and discover the secrets that the top
performing compaines are doing to increase employee morale and
productivity while allowing them to thrive in the changing world
around them?
Click
here now to find out all the details...
