Professional Partnerships

Episode 58:  There Is Nothing Like A Nurse

Trapper:   [Tension in the OR without the nurses] My kingdom for a  nurse!

Radar:     I’m doing my best.

Trapper:   Radar, if you don’t start handing me the instruments in  the right way, I’m going to cut you off at the knees.

Henry:     Klinger, you’re standing in my light.

Klinger:   Whatever I do is no good!

Hawkeye:   Let’s keep those sponges coming Father, nurse is also a  verb.

The threat of an enemy invasion leads to the evacuation of all the nurses from the 4077.  Camp morale is low and the tensions in O.R. high as the doctors try to cope without the nurse’s expertise and companionship.

Throughout 20 years of leadership serving alongside my wife we have developed a professional partnership in our ministry.  Together we make a great team that intuitively complements each other’s gifts and abilities.  However, when one of us is missing for any length of time the other is left second guessing counter-intuitive roles that fall outside our normal areas of responsibility.  If there is one thing we have learned about leadership, it is that it is not a solo activity.  We need each other.  We need competent people with complementary gifts to partner in pursuing a shared vision and common purpose.  This is true for any team and leadership context. Sue Mallory advocates this strongly:  “A team is a group of uniquely gifted players with a common purpose. Each player has a responsibility and is given the authority to carry it out. As team members they are fully and jointly accountable to one another and to the team’s results.”