You may think you’re on a good team, you get things done, but are you really on one?
Maybe there’s a better way to do things. A way to improve upon what a lot of traditional literature says you should do, or not do.
And it’s surprisingly a simple concept to grasp, but we do things that sabotage our teams, and our relationships.
How are we unknowingly sabotaging our teams and relationships?
Interrupting them
It seems simple enough, but this is something we do often, and unconsciously. I find myself doing this often, especially when I’m tired, and my patience has run out.
Do you wait for other people to finish speaking? Or do you interrupt them?
When I’m tired and impatient, I find myself interrupting other people a lot. Because it’s easier to just get people focused on one thing, and discard everything else not relevant to the solution.
I save a lot more time, and chit-chat that say.
At the expense of respect for other people, their feelings, and their openness.
And when you do it one time, two times, repeatedly, it sets the tone for the others in your team that interrupting other people is OK, as long as it gets the job done.
It seems simple, but it really isn’t. Interrupting other people doesn’t set the tone for openness and safety for the team members.
It may not be as efficient in the short run, but it will be way more effective, as a whole, for the whole team, in the long run.
Don’t care for the person
Because your co-workers are not just your co-workers.
They’re people too.
With their own relationships, thoughts, feelings, dreams, and desires.
They’re just like you. They’re living, breathing, people.
Meaning, they have a life outside of work, the same way that you hopefully have. And personal concerns also affect the work performance of a person.
The reason they’re not performing at work, is because there may be a personal issue at heart. There may be something more deeply rooted than just work concerns at the moment, for the person.
And if we keep things all official, all professional, at all times, then we’re no different from robots. Emotionless, only caring about the results.
Make an effort to get to know the persons on your team, and to show concern for them, not just because they’re your team members, but because they’re persons too, and deserving of your care and concern.
The same way that you’re also deserving of theirs.
Care too much about the process, or result, only.
Because being a leader, even of just yourself, requires a delicate balancing act.
If you care only about the process, then you might not get to the result that you want, given the resources and the time that you have. It won’t be as efficient, and you may end up wasting what you have to achieve something small.
On the other hand, if you care only about the result, then you compromise the integrity of your team, your way of proceeding, and of the credibility of the result, as well. You won’t be effective, and you’ll sacrifice long-term repeatability and success for short-term success.
You’ve got to care about both.
And it’s to be done in a way that it ebbs and flows, that you’re still focused on bringing about results, yet at the same time, caring about the process.
More than the process, also caring about the people, who run the process, who bring about the result.
Micromanaging
As Dr. Stephen Covey once said – “You cannot hold people responsible for results if you dictate their methods.”
That’s exactly what micromanaging is. Dictating how a person should do their job, rather than setting what they should be aiming at, and what the result is.
Then, allowing them to figure out, and to chart a path, towards that desired result.
Because top performers, in every organization, and in every team, use different skills, talents and strengths to be able to bring about the same excellent results.
No plan survives contact with the enemy, as the Navy SEALs say. As a leader, we should set clear expectations, targets, and non-negotiables, and allow our team to figure out a way to the goal.
Trust. That’s the magic ingredient.
Hire people you can trust, and trust in them.
Little things lead to great results
Which can be positive, or negative.
These little habits seem inconspicuous enough, but in the long run, rob a team of any commitment, safety, and willingness to trust and work with each other.
Be more aware of the little things that you do.
It’s the little things, done on a consistent basis, that lead to greatness.
Have you caught yourself doing any one of these things? Please share in the comments below!
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