Articles tagged "Communication in the Workplace"
How Well Do You Know Your Team?
How well do you know your team members? Besides knowing their names and generally what their jobs are, do you have a realistic understanding of their workplace challenges, the projects they’re involved with, their professional goals, and their unique skills weaknesses or areas of expertise? No? I understand. It’s tough enough having time to get your own work done much less worry about your team members’ challenges. However, the sooner you understand your team members better, the sooner you’ll relieve some of your workplace stress, you’ll strengthen your workplace relationships, and you’ll see your performance - and your entire team’s performance - improve.
The sooner you understand your team members better, the sooner you’ll relieve some of your workplace stress, you’ll strengthen your workplace relationships, and you’ll see your performance - and your entire team’s performance - improve.
We’ve all heard the saying, “Knowledge is power.” It’s true. The more you know, the better positioned you are to make better, more-informed decisions. This is true when you’re anticipating making a major purchase such as a home or a new vehicle. The more research you do, the more-informed and more confident you are when you finally make that important purchase. However, when it comes to making work and team-related decisions, too often we simply jump to the task at hand and don’t take the time to understand the people with whom we are expected to accomplish great things. Too often, we have a mindset of, “We have too much to do and not enough time to do it. We don’t have time to waste on unproductive, touchy-feely stuff!” We tend to not value the importance of at least taking an initial inventory of our team and its capabilities before we start a project with a new team. We too often don’t proactively identify what our team’s strengths and weaknesses are at the outset so we can anticipate and prepare for probable challenges. Instead, we typically just expect that we’ll ‘work things out’ as the project evolves. That’s somewhat like planning a cross-country road trip without first ensuring your vehicle is up to the challenge, but instead telling yourself, “I’ll figure it out.”
Getting to know your team doesn’t need to be a formal process. In fact, it should be relaxed, conversational, and non-threatening. This is an opportunity to spend time, up-front, sharing information about yourself while allowing your team to better understand each other and your levels of experience and resourcefulness. The more you know about each other, the more you can prepare yourself and the team. Here are just a few questions to ask of each other to help you all get to know each other better:
- What will your role be on the team?
- What do you do in other areas of your job? What are your major responsibilities?
- What do you know and what don’t you know about this project/client/vendor, etc?
- What experiences (good and bad) have you had with similar situations?
- What frustrates you about the project/team? What stakeholder concerns you? Why?
- What special project-related skills do you possess that may not be apparent?
- What are you not good at doing?
- What makes you laugh? What makes you angry?
- How do you perform best (ahead of schedule, lots of collaboration, work alone, work at night, early morning person, etc)?
- How do you prefer to interact with the other team members?
The more you learn about your team members, the better positioned you are to interact intentionally, effectively, and productively with them.
How well do you know your team?
Copyright MMXIX - Liz Weber, CMC, CSP - Weber Business Services, LLC – www.WBSLLC.com +1.717.597.8890
Liz supports clients with strategic and succession planning, as well as leadership training and executive coaching. Learn more about Liz on LinkedIn!
Stay True to Your Plan
It’s been a few months since you and your team put the finishing touches on your organization’s exciting, challenging, and let’s be honest, pretty amazing strategic plan. So what’s happened since you all high-fived one another and ‘finished’ that project? Have you moved the plan forward? Have you focused on it each day? Has it become a guide for your leadership and team actions? Or, have you already lost sight of what you and the team determined was needed to strategically move your organization to greater success?
Are You Listening?
It doesn’t take much for a leader to show she cares for her team. My company is wrapping up a ‘listening’ and training tour for one of our clients. The new CEO asked us to provide leadership training to help her managers and supervisors enhance their own and their teams’ performance and outline a list of feasible solutions she could move forward to help them, help their teams, and help their customers. However, instead of simply jumping in with a training program on enhancing leadership skills, we included a critical sequencing piece to the training solution:
Not Every Great Employee is A Good Fit
Hallelujah! After weeks, if not months, of diligent searching, resume and LinkedIn profile reviews, phone interviews, and then multi-stage in-person and team interviews, you’ve hired THE right person for your team. Kayla’s got the skills, experience, credentials, references, work ethic, communication skills, team skills, and personality you need. She’s got ‘it’! Every team member, client and vendor who has interacted with her these past few weeks loves her. They’ve been impressed with Kayla’s abilities, intrigued by her thought processes, and grateful for her work and team contributions. You finally feel as if a huge weight has been lifted. You’ve finally found the right team member who will help propel your team forward. Or have you… Something is gnawing at you. Even though Kayla has ‘it’, you’re not sure she’s a ‘fit’. Wait! What? How could a team member who seems perfect for your team, your organization, the job, and the clients, not be a good fit for your organization?
Acknowledge the Mood – Let Them Know You Understand
What does it feel like when you walk next to team members as you enter your building? What is your team’s energy level when you log onto a team video call or walk into a team meeting? As you pass others in the hallway, overhear conversations, and observe your team members perform their work, do they look and act excited and energized, or do they look tired, frustrated, or numb? Your team members’ view of their individual and collective work sets the tone for your entire organization, and it establishes how productive or unproductive your organization will or won’t be.
