Respectful Teamwork.

We’re all busy, we’ve all got stuff to do, lots of stuff… And when you work in a team, when you depend on other people’s input (and here I mean anybody you need to work with, whether they are colleagues or clients), you need collaboration, everyone’s “best” collaboration… right?

What happens when someone doesn’t collaborate, doesn’t give their best? Frustration, delays, rework, etc.

The key point here is respect.

A lack of respect is like a pot hole or a road block… They make you go out of your way to avoid them, and they make you take alternate routes so you don’t have to deal with them again.

Sometimes it’s unintentional: we get so busy we don’t realize we… lack respect. If we are too busy, we just need to say it.  Acknowledge the request, say what you can do and when you can do it.

Do for others what you expect others do for you.

Respect goes a long way. It drives people. It energizes them:

• It makes them want to work with you!
• It makes them want to give you their best!
• It makes them want to figure it out with you!

When working in a team, we all need to:

• Give enough time for others to respond to request – it’s hard sometimes, because things move so fast, but you’ve got to try – I [try to] remind myself regularly… 🙂
• Be helpful – if it doesn’t come naturally, remember that what goes around comes around.
• Take the time to communicate properly – especially when using email: short, concise, to the point… re-read yourself, as if you were the person who is going to read it.
• Confirm you are understood.
• Confirm you understand.
• If you can’t do something right away, let others know.

One last thing… For those who forget: respect is earned.

Make sense?

I’ve thought about it so much… I must be right. Right?

How many times have you been  involved in a situation where you had to deal with someone pushing their position or ideas on you?

How many times was it YOU doing the pushing?

The way we approach things and the way we make decisions, comes from our knowledge and experience and the more we have, the more assertive we become. This can be good, especially when we’re in a lead position: someone needs to take charge, while others need to be directed. But it doesn’t mean we’re always right! We have to be careful not to become a bully!

Side note: It’s not because we’ve done it a certain way before that we shouldn’t look at finding a better way to do it. There is always room for improvement, right?

Side note #2: It’s not because we dreamed up a way to doing something (meaning we never actually tried it) that it is the right way of doing it!

When we’re looking at doing something different, whether it’s completely new, or bigger in scope, or working with people we have never worked with before, or tackling a type of activity we have never done before, we always need to step back and consider alternatives, especially when people around you are TRYING to tell you so. At the very least, we need to keep an open mind. And this means listening and understanding what others are trying to say: not just humoring them!

Side note #3: I remember something like this on Linkedin recently… “Listen to understand, not to prepare your reply.”

Makes sense?

Motivation, well presented, is always welcome (at least it should)

A little while ago I received an email from Jill Konrath, in which she presented two “inspiring and uplifting” videos aimed at motivating you to get up and do your thing, whether by yourself or with others:

• Watch the 212 video
• Watch the Smile & Move video

I really like them. I showed them to a few of my colleagues and some like them, some loved them and for some, well, it didn’t click. Nobody hated them. But again, I really liked them. Got me to lookup more inspirational stuff on Youtube, which to no surprise is loaded with that king of stuff.

I was never exposed to this level of motivational exposure, and makes me wish I did experience it. I can’t help think it must be helpful. It’s true that I’ve only been exposed to a few different work environments (something like 8 or 9) over the last 20 years or so, but I realize that they all had lots of variation in “motivation” provided by the “supervisory” structure, or people in charge… A few places I had the chance to be inspired, but sadly I’ve got to say that most lack true leadership. Maybe this is why I think those videos, or other media, would have been good.

I understand that it is not given to everybody to be able to lead/motivate effectively, so it’d be nice that those in such a position be aware of their ability (or lack of it) and seek whatever means necessary that would help them get the job done.

Anyone out there ever used these “kits”?