TEAMWORK - Personalize Your Interactions
It is very important to weave personal care and warmth in to team interactions whenever you can on the job without adversely affecting you job efficiency.
Sometimes this is as simple as offering a smile or pat on the back as you pass a co-worker. Sometimes this is noticing that your co-worker is struggling and offering a friendly ear or other support.
“Checking in “ at the beginning of a meeting is taking a minute at the beginning to see how everyone is feeling that day and sharing a moment of empathy or care.
This not only fosters support and harmony but also lets the people at the meeting know something of the moods people are bringing to the meeting so they can consider those in their responses.
Be Responsible To Teammates
We are probably not going to like or feel friendship with every person we work with, and there may be times when we believe someone is not pulling his or her weight. But an attitude of “All the guys I work with are idiots,” is only going to assure that you will never be happy at your job.
Acting as a team means learning to defuse situations without blaming, criticizing, or other negative judgment.
The word responsibility means ability to respond (response-ability), not “who do we blame for this?!” Response ability has to do with choice and power.
Assume that you and your teammates would enjoy and profit from more choice and power and defuse any situation with the goal of helping all involved to gain more response-ability and get better results.
There is no place in a successful team for criticizing, blaming, or negative judgment. Replace these with encouragement, care, and problem solving.
Optimal teamwork means using the resources of all the players and that includes the wisdom and experience of each player. When you are inclusive of all perspectives in problem solving, you'll not only make better decisions, but you'll get more support and motivation from each employee.
Teamwork profits everyone involved.
