PAGD Keystone Explorer Spring 2020

6 www.pagd.org Q dentistry issues I took a breath and explained. Robert Teets expected that people working Together (Everyone) would Achieve More ( Profitable Management for the Subcontractor. McGraw-Hill, 1976). I agree with him. But I have also learned in the three decades working with dental offices around the country that, while I love the sentiment, “team” does not equal “teamwork.” While watching a basketball game with one of my sons, we began to talk about the Chicago Bulls “Dream Team” which included Dennis Rodman, Scottie Pippen and, of course, Michael Jordan. We talked about their winning streak of the 1990s and how they dominated the game at that time. I let him know that the Dream Team was the basis of many discussions throughout the business world as the model of great “teamwork” within corporate structure. However, there is a flaw in the “Dream Team” logic. Let’s first look at the key player, Michael “Air” Jordan, the lynchpin. He was the key, in most people’s eyes, to the Bull’s success. In 1984, Jordan graced the cover of Sports Illustrated with a banner saying: “ A Star Is Born ” and was voted by the NBA as their All-Star Starter and Rookie of the Year. The Bulls finished their season with 38 wins and 44 losses. The next year, Jordan set the record for most points in a playoff game. The Bulls finished the season with 30 wins and 52 losses. In the 1986–87 season, Jordan became the only player (other than Wilt Chamberlain) to score 3,000 points in a season. The Bulls finished their season with 40 wins and 42 losses. In the 1987–88 season, things seemed to change. Jordan became the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year and the Bulls finished their season with 50 wins and 32 losses. 1988–89, he led the league in scoring, averaged 8 rebounds and 8 assists per game, and the Bulls finished with 47 wins and 35 losses. In 1989, Phil Jackson took the lead as coach of the Bulls and Scottie Pippen joined Jordan on the court. The Bulls finished their season with 55 wins and 27 losses. In the 1990–91 season, Jordan won the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award, for the second time, and the Bulls began a streak of three NBA Championships! What most people don’t realize, is that the Chicago Bulls didn’t become a TEAM in the mythical way Robert Teets expected. No, what happened is the Bulls found the “swing” as described by Daniel James Brown ( The Boys in The Boat. Penguin Books, 2014): “Something happens that’s hard to achieve or define. Many never find it. Others can’t sustain it. It’s called the ‘swing.’ It only happens when all oarsmen are rowing in unison, such that no single action is out of sync.” The synergy that the Bulls players created on the court was not created by a sense of teamwork, but rather a desire to be on the same path while on the court. In recent interviews with Dennis Rodman, he was quoted as saying that the “… only time we had a conversation was on the R ecently, I attended a concert with four dentists who I had never met before. The doctor I sat next to asked what my company was called. When I said, “The Crew Process,” she asked what “The Crew Process” was? I explained that I spend my days turning employees into “Crews.” Her response was, “How is that different from ‘teambuilding’?”