Tag Archives: working together

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Working together

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Working with others is typically more difficult than just doing it yourself.  Frank Sintra’s iconic anthem which struck a chord with millions of fans “My Way” really describes how most of us prefer to operate.

The song celebrates the joys of doing things “My Way”.  My own experience is the extra time and effort required to find collaborative solutions is much more likely to produce sustainable results over the long term.

Let’s All Just Work Together

Cooperation versus competition leverages the skills of everyone and provides the opportunity to leverage the diversity of the group without contention.  Relying on an individual creates the potential for a single point of failure.

Given the benefits of working together, one might wonder why it is not the default approach but rather something we must work at.  Humans are social animals for sure, the majority of us seek, in fact, require contact with others.

Social interaction is not the same as working together which requires us to suppress the natural urge to do things my way.  This behavior trait may be stronger in some but to some extent it exists in everyone.

Worth the Effort

While difficult and time-consuming putting in the effort needed to listen (really listen and pay attention to others) has been demonstrated through numerous psychology studies to provide higher quality and longer-lasting results.

The benefit can be demonstrated intellectually but is not always apparent to us from an emotional perspective.  Hence high performing groups are more the exception than the rule.

The next time you have an opportunity to collaborate put in the effort to be cooperative you will probably be surprised by the excellence of the outcomes.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Empathy

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Understanding the feelings of others coupled with the ability to imagine their current  emotions and the impact there-off is the cornerstone of positive human interactions.

One of the best ways to contain an interpersonal interaction from exploding into violent disagreements or  spiralling out of control is to acknowledge how others feel and work toward understanding why and what it means.

Understanding/Not Acceptance

Empathy focuses on understanding others thoughts and associated feelings, this does necessarily equate to acceptance or agreement.   It is through shared understanding that we can build collaboration.

Sensitivity to your own feelings and actions impacts on others is a key part of empathy.  Empathetic people use their awareness of others feelings for the betterment of all.

Typically,  acting with empathy provides benefits to  all parties and while it is an unselfish way to behave it can increase your own personal enjoyment as well as that of others .  Basically a win win behaviour.

Collaboration

Empathy can be a very powerful go to behaviour for both leaders and followers who wish to benefit from the best everyone has to offer.

Working together to produce or create something can produce high quality results but is to be effective the process is very much dependent on all parties sensing and acting on the needs of others.

A lack of empathy does not mean good results will not be attained but the most efficient and effective results will always come from situations where everyone is empathetic to others.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Resolving Issues

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Conflicts between humans are normal.  Expecting to live in a conflict-free environment is probably desirable but not realistic.  For most of us encountering an important topic or problem for debate or discussion is a daily occurrence.

Interacting with others to resolve issues can involve emotional responses and can lead to distress not directly associated with the issue.

Focus on the Problem

It is not unusual for us to support our positions by attacking our opponents.    This usually fails and just causes the discussion (or debate) to escalate.

The real issue is lost in the blame game.  It is human nature to be first to ensure it’s clear someone else created the problem.  Unfortunately, while this might feel right, it definitely is not the best way to achieve issue resolution.

When discussing a topic, if you are really seeking a solution, it works best to focus on the problem.  Discussion points that include names or pronouns (e.g., you, he, she, them) typically contain some attack or validation at the expense of others.

Adversarial

When the conversation includes comments on other peoples behavior, no matter how accurate you think your perspective is, the other person might not agree with you and even if they do it could be perceived as an insult.

The solution to working with others collaboratively is relatively simple.  Without reference to other actions or faults, the focus stays on point, ie, how to address and resolve the issue.

When you believe you about to referencing another person, this almost always involves a name or pronoun.  Catch yourself before it’s too late and you are more likely to attain your objective.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Getting Help

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Relying on the assistance of others should neither be a fallback position nor something that is to be avoided.  I am reminded of a Warren Zevon classic rock song with the classic chorus:

Send lawyers guns and money, the shit has hit the fan

Warren Zevon

As implied by the desperate tone of the line, and supported by the rest of the lyrics, this plea for help arrives when the problem has escalated to out of control proportions.  

Waiting too long can make the assistance untenable. 

Not a sign of Weakness

Collaborating with others, enabling everyone to play a role and encouraging it, helps the chances of achieving success. 

I am great because I did it myself, this is of course heroic but typically not sustainable and very susceptible to failure.  We all have our kryptonite, that is something that can defeat us.  

Actually, accepting help gratefully, encouraging it, creating an environment where we all want to help each other as a standard methodology can be far more productive (and sustainable) than the hero approach.

Appreciation is key

Help accepted reluctantly is recognized by others and is a sure way to discourage this behavior.  Giving and getting assistance does have a component of personal gratification and acknowledging and complementing the helper supports this.  

It is basic human nature, supported by human nurture for most people to want to help others.  Environmental factors can impact others natural instinct to be helpful but absent those, it is a natural practice for most. 

We should not deny it or feel threatened.  Giving and accepting help, is a best practice for everyone. 

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Teamwork

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When a group of people, who know each other and are  typically aligned by organization, (e.g., family, non profit, corporate, government, sports, etc.) combine their efforts to a common action, teamwork can occur, but it might not.
It is both logical and expected that the resulting effort from teamwork will be more  effective and efficient.  That is the outcomes are easier to attain and higher quality, particularly when gauged against individual effort.
It is important to note superior outcomes are not always the case when groups work together and  can easily produce lesser results.  The term teamwork implies joint efforts are coordinated and collaborative.
The most important aspect of teamwork is to clearly understand being on a team and working together is not by default teamwork.  Without a high degree of coordination and collaboration (i.e., intuitive agreement) teamwork does not occur.
High Performing Teams
A high performing team is a group of people who share common goals, but most importantly are able to collaborate, challenge and hold each other accountable to achieve outstanding results.
Individual needs are not relevant, the group members share a clear shared vision of where they are headed and what they want to accomplish, as a group.
Building the Team
Starting with basic teamwork and then building to high performance is the best approach.  It will not happen magically and the leader will need to plan and facilitate the development of the needed collaborative attributes.
While this is not an easy task, requiring extensive planning and execution effort, the rewards are well worth it.  It is critical to recognize the need to engineer teamwork rather than magically expecting it to appear.
Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

The power of people

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Often a quote will get me thinking.  Todays subject is about the power of working together, triggered by a quote from Helen Keller.

“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.”

About Helen Keller

Many will have heard of Helen Keller, she accomplished much in her life time.  Helen was the first deaf and blind person to receive a bachelor of arts degree.

Her life is a shining example of individual achievement.  I can’t image graduating from University without the sense of hearing let alone without sight.  Of course without hearing, learning to talk alone is pretty tricky.

What is so illuminating about this quote is not the content, probably a bit intuitive, but rather the source.  That such a pillar of individual strength and achievement would highlight the benefit of a team.

Without Others

Setting her goal, understanding/ creating personal motivation and perservering are all key hallmarks of Helen Kellers life.  Yet even Helen realized, and clearly voiced it, she might not have been able to do it alone.

People collaberating, joining forces, supporting each other every step of the way create a powerful and effective force.  Where an individual might struggle a team will often forge ahead and succeed

Step One

There are many books and tools around effective teamwork practices.  The ideas and  techniques are of great value but the first step is recognition and understanding of the power of a group over an idividual.

That is the first step to unleashing the power of teams.