This is what I wrote:
“Are you
part of the problem” is the title of an article that appeared in the April/May
2016 issue of Georgia Pharmacy, the
journal of the Georgia Pharmacy Association. The author is Scott Brunner, who
is described as the Georgia Pharmacy Association’s cheerleader-in-chief. He
describes his participation in a team-building workshop and one exercise in
particular where each of six team members were given a set of mismatched puzzle pieces. The object was for each of the participants to trade puzzle
pieces with each other so as to acquire the proper three pieces to construct a
six-inch square. The team would be
successful when each of them assembled their own six-inch, three-piece puzzle.
They were also not to communicate with one another, not by verbalizing, nor by
gestures, and no pleading facial expressions. Scott continues “When the
facilitator said ‘go’, each of us shuffled around our pieces in the dim hope
we’d been accidently given the right three. Alas, no. Tentatively the woman
next to me handed me a piece. I accepted it and gave her one of mine. Her piece
improved my lot. Two of my pieces now fit together. One did not. I handed that
one to a fellow across from me who snatched it but offered nothing in return.
Sensing this inequity, the guy next to him passed me one of his. Voila. My
missing piece. There in front of me was a completed puzzle.” Scott sat back self-satisfied. The
facilitator looked at his result and announced to the room that those who had
completed their puzzles should look at those who had not completed theirs and
ask themselves “Are you a part of the solution or are you part of the problem?”
Scott continues “Was that aimed at me? I’d taken care of my assignment. What
about the other goofs who could not seem to figure it out? They were the
problem…weren’t they? I looked back around to find some teammates glaring at
me. Reluctantly I grabbed a piece of my perfect little puzzle and tossed it to
one of the underachievers. This initiated a series of trades – off
collaboration- that in no time resulted in us all succeeding together”. The
message is that when one member of the team had “finished”, and his
unwillingness to engage thereafter, prevented others from succeeding. Taking
care of himself wasn’t enough. This can be applied to pharmacy as well.
According to recent stats there are 14031
pharmacists on the SAPC register and about 7000 are members of the PSSA. So the
remaining 7000 pharmacists are benefitting from the work the PSSA is doing and that is being funded by those colleagues who
pay their annual dues. The PSSA could be better and more effective if every
registered pharmacist joined and paid his way. So are you part of the solution
or part of the problem?
I hope that some introspection has taken place. I certainly would have appreciated many more comments than just the one. Why are all members part of the pharmacy profession anyway? Who is failing whom?
