Respectful Teams - luck or effort?
We are not workplace clones without personalities or peculiarities, we are individuals, who, if we work together, have the capacity to create great teams.
Respect at Work is getting busy and I am about to leave my safe 3-day a week job to throw myself in 24/7, I'm excited!
But... leaving a great team is hard. I am fortunate to be one of the lucky ones and have been working with some really kind and considerate (aka respectful) people in my office. That doesn't mean that we don't get on each other's nerves at times or unintentionally say the wrong thing but there is a shared kindness and sense of having each other's back. We don't bang on about it and it's often masked with joking and teasing but it's there, it's supportive and its genuine.
So, what makes my team so successful? Is it just luck? No, it takes work.
After all, I'm sure that someone else in my place might find the joking to be too much or offensive (we've probably all been on either side of that situation). Open communication is crucial, feeling safe to speak your mind is necessary. No matter how well we think we know someone, we only know what they let us know and there is always a chance that something we say or do might offend. We need to listen, not just with our ears but with our whole selves, and as we listen we need to learn and adapt.
I believe that a respectful team needs to be made up of diverse individuals that inherently are interested and supportive of difference; individuals that care and genuinely want their peers to succeed. Just like family we don't usually get to choose our workmates, and understandably the people we work with (and spend many, many hours with) aren't always the people we would choose to be our friends. Whether you see your workmate as a friend, colleague or both doesn't stop you from showing respect. We don't have to agree with someone else's views to show empathy, we don't have to understand to have a respectful curiosity, and, we don't have to like someone to show respect.
We are not workplace clones without personalities or peculiarities, we are individuals, who, if we work together, have the capacity to create great teams.
If only I could bottle and then market as a pill the essence of the team I am leaving. Instead I will take what I have learnt, add it to the Respect at Work knowledge bank and continue to facilitate discussions.
Please get in touch if your team needs a nudge in the right direction.