When two or more people work together to achieve a challenging goal, remarkable results can be created. The power and potential of positive teams is truly amazing. Unfortunately, the majority of teams aren’t very good at teamwork. As a result, many individuals prefer to work alone and consider the time spent in team meetings to be less than ideal.
“Our ability to work together, to collaborate and cooperate, is undermining America.”~Warren Bennis~
There is no shortage of opinions on how to improve a team’s performance. Google ‘teamwork’ and you’ll get 99 million results. However, the overwhelming amount of information on the subject actually causes confusion and little or no sustained behavior change. When leaders are confused about what to do next, they usually default to maintaining a status quo.
If you believe your team is capable of working better together, I encourage you to practice doing something different during your day. It won’t require any more of your time. You don’t have to learn anything new because you’re already good at doing what needs to be done. The idea is also very easy to execute and it works 100% of the time.
The simple suggestion for helping your team work a little better together is to treat everyone like they’re one of your best friends.
People have been, and will continue to be, the most important and unpredictable part of your day. You may think you have positive relationships in all areas of your life now, but if you’re not intentionally doing something every day to make those relationships a little better, there is a good chance they’re getting worse. Relationships never stay the same for very long.
When you make people your highest priority and commit to treating others like you do your best friends, your relationships will dramatically improve and, believe it or not, so will your results.
The Gallup Organization has studied over 30 million engaged and disengaged individuals, many of them millennials, for over 30 years. Their research has found the organizations with employees who say they have best friends at work have the highest scores when it comes to employee and client retention, engagement, productivity and profitability. Unfortunately, only about 2 out of 10 say ‘yes’ when asked, “Do you have a best friend at work?” By increasing that ratio to 6 in 10 employees, organizations could realize 36% fewer safety incidents, 7% more engaged customers and 12% higher profit.
According to Gallup, “When employees possess a deep sense of affiliation with their team members, they are driven to take positive actions that benefit the business—actions they may not otherwise even consider. Friendships can also take on a very powerful dynamic in which casual, friendly conversations turn into innovative discussions about how the team or organization can thrive.”
This week, instead of evaluating whether you have a best friend at work, make a commitment to have an informal meeting with at least one member of your team each day, turn off your cell phone and treat them like they were one of your best friends.
Soon your ‘friends’ will start working a little better together.
Let’s Get Better. Together! Bill Durkin
