NOTE: This message was emailed to Ballad Health team members on Tuesday, Aug. 18.
Dear Colleague,
As we wrap up the Team and Personal Reliability skill in the Advanced Team Collaboration program, this week’s tip gives us a chance to consider how our individual reliability affects the people we work with.
Every team depends on its members to communicate, follow through, contribute and support one another. When those expectations aren’t met consistently, the negative effects can spread throughout the team. Taking time to recognize our own habits and consider how others depend on us can help strengthen the trust we share with our teammates.
This week’s tip
Team and Personal Reliability Tip #4: Impact of a Low Reliability Team Member
We’ve all worked with teammates who are dependable, positive and willing to do their part. We’ve probably also experienced the frustration that comes when someone regularly misses deadlines, fails to communicate or approaches their work with a negative attitude. These behaviors can affect more than the individual. They can create additional work for coworkers, make communication more difficult and get in the way of the team’s ability to accomplish its goals.
Low reliability can take several forms. Missed goals and deadlines can cause others to adjust their own work. Communication breakdowns can leave teammates without resources and information they need. A consistently negative attitude can affect morale and make collaboration more difficult. Recognizing these patterns in others can be useful, but this tip also asks us to look at our own behavior and consider whether we may unintentionally contribute to these challenges.
Call to Action:
Take an honest look at your own reliability. Do you recognize any behaviors that could make it harder for your teammates to depend on you? If so, identify a few specific actions you can take to improve. Consider how those changes could affect the people who rely on you each day.
With this week’s tip, we’ve reached the end of the Team and Personal Reliability skill in Advanced Team Collaboration. Throughout this skill, we’ve looked at what reliability looks like on an individual level, how we can build our own reliability, how teams can become more dependable and how low reliability can affect the people around us.
As you close out this skill, take a moment to think about the kind of teammate you want to be. Consider what your coworkers can count on you for, where you can improve and how your everyday actions contribute to the team. Reliability grows through the choices we make consistently, and each of us has a role in building a team that can depend on one another.
Wrapping up the Team and Personal Reliability skill
After you complete this week’s tip, you should now see 100% completion of the Team and Personal Reliability skill in your progress tab. You should also see your Overall Progress in the Advanced Team Collaboration program reach 80%.
Take a moment to review your progress and ensure you’re current with the program. Staying up to date with each week’s content helps you get the most from the Learn, Try, Share experience, reinforces the skills you’ve already learned, and prepares you for the next phase of your Advanced Team Collaboration journey.
Team Member Impact
This week, we’re sharing a perspective from Jarod Cielo, an RN at Franklin Woods Community Hospital.
Jarod’s approach puts the focus where it belongs: on the part each of us plays in team reliability. Regular self-evaluation can help us recognize habits that may need attention, while being constructive keeps our focus on contributing to solutions. Most importantly, thinking about how others depend on us reminds us that our choices can affect the people working alongside us.
We encourage all team members to continue leaving comments on the Practicing Excellence platform. Your personal stories and examples help turn these lessons into practical ideas that others across Ballad Health can apply every day. This is also a great opportunity to learn from one another, gain new perspectives, and discover meaningful ways to integrate B Excellent into our daily work. By sharing successes, challenges and experiences, we strengthen our collective commitment to living these principles every day.
