The "can't do" mentality

A while ago I visited a practice that has one of the worst time and motion problems that I have ever seen.To get an operatory set up takes ages and cleaning up at the end is like watching grass grow. If there is something unexpected (like a root filling) then it takes 10 minutes or more to get ready. Things are constantly being forgotten and the nurses beat a path back and forward all day to the steri area to get missing items.To say the overall effect is demotivating would be to put it mildly.They are not understaffed. There are in fact plenty of staff to cover the patient load if they worked efficiently.Being curious by nature I wanted to work out how the place got to be so inefficient. I tested by making a couple of mild suggestions to the head nurse as to how things could be made more efficient. For every suggestion she had a reason as to why they had to keep things just as they are.Her excuses all began with "We tried that but..."This started me thinking. Can we as business owners, afford to have team members with a negative "can't do" attitude? Can we afford to keep team members who waste dozens of our productive hours every month?A "can't do" attitude is such a wet blanket to innovation and improvement.