Kerala Click Articles & Blogs |
|
| Team Building Information |
|
|
|
|
Manage Expectations to Reduce Everyday Frustrations
Just today my partner Russ and I sat down to hash out a nagging frustration. It took a little bantering back and forth [not without some rise in emotional tension I'll have you know] until we got at the heart of the issue.
So, most every time you find your level of frustration on the rise it is because your partner acted contrary to one of your myriad expectations. Now that you've become more or re-aware of this what can you do about it?besides hoot and holler? The first step is to identify what the expectation is For example: My husband expects that we arrive at least 15 minutes early for meetings where we are the speakers, as he likes to greet attendees and take our position behind the podium in a timely manner. When for some reason I get caught talking with someone outside he gets perturbed.
Where do our expectations come from? Our expectations generally are spawned during our childhood years. I recall when our daughter was about five years old and she came home from visiting our neighbors rather concerned and said, "Jason's mommy and daddy are mad and his daddy went away. Mommies and daddies must stay together." Her expectation was [and still is now that she is 26 and married] that couples work it out. Take a moment to reflect on some of your expectations; you might just chuckle about where some of them come from. Like the one about the ham? Mother is teaching her daughter how to cook ham for a holiday dinner. "Mom, why do you cut off the ends of the ham before putting it in the casserole?" Mother stops to think for a moment then says, "Because that's how grandma did it." Fortunately Grandma is visiting and is sitting in the front room reading to her five year old grandson. "Grandma, why do you cut the ends off the ham?" Grandma smiles and says, "Why child, because when your mother was young the pan was too small." Choose your battles Depending on the expectation you may want to concede so that in another area your partner will agree to your preference. Determine which expectations are most important to you and which are most important to your partner. Be prepared for some give and take. Find a better way. When expectations are in conflict, it is frequently best to sit back and look at what is best for the situation or the relationship. Who takes out the trash may vary according to work schedule and availability. When to take out the trash may be determined by sanitary concerns. When individual expectations clash the fastest way to resolve the concern is to create a totally new expectation that fits you and your life or business partner best. If you are a workaholic working 16 hours a day and your partner puts in 8hours you need to look at what your business demands and set your expectations to line up with your business plan and goals. In a partnership, life or business, remember that your expectations may need to be realigned so that they work for the good of the relationship. Margrit is a former Team Relationship Consultant for First Union Securities [now Wachovia], Morgan Stanley, and many small business owners and professionals. She was a marriage and family therapist for several years as well. Today Margrit offers free relationship advice on-line, writes articles for Horsesmouth [an on-line service for financial advisors] and makes money selling her Relationship Tests [called Awareness Tools]. Soon her Relationship Principles e-books [for Life and Business Partners] and other stuff to make bad relationships good and good relationships great will also be available at http://www.stratateam.com/WhyitWorks.asp
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Employee and Coworkers Gifts Giving gifts to your co-workers or your employees can be a tricky business. You want to give something that is they will really enjoy but doesn't break your piggy bank. You want to give something that suits the individual's tastes but doesn't suggest anything politically. We have some suggestions that for the most part can be given to either sex and to anyone of almost any age which we think will help you in your gift giving search. Motivating Your Employees CREATE A MOTIVATIONAL CLIMATE: Create a climate where others find long-term motivation. Long term motivation comes from a positive work environment, and positive reinforcement. Usually long-term motivation is impossible without short-term motivation. Short-term motivation comes from the staff working together, learning from each other, and giving as well as receiving constant feedback to each other. Short-term motivation builds self motivation. Self motivation comes from daily reinforcements. Little reinforcements such as good food in the cafeteria, jolly co-workers, and a little pat on the back contribute to self motivation. If the staff enjoys working in the organization, they're more likely to do their best to stay there. What?s Wrong With You, Why Don?t You Understand Me? Recently while waiting for our lunch to be served in a nearby restaurant, my husband Michael and I were discussing our son's upcoming science fair project. Michael was describing the steps that my son should follow to complete the assignment. While Michael was going through this elaborate process, I diligently tried to follow what he was saying, but I sat there completely clueless. As I struggled to gain a better understanding of what he was talking about, my normally affable husband started to show distinct sings of irritation. His unspoken message was 'what's wrong with you, why don't you understand me?" He then proceeded to draw his plan on a napkin in an effort to get his brilliant idea into my dense head. It worked. When Michael started to show me what he was describing, I was able to easily understand his ideas. Safety First - Five Reasons to Hold a Routine Safety Meeting Workplace safety is important to all businesses for ethical, legal and financial reasons. Keeping employees safe from injury is the right thing to do, it also keeps a business away from civil litigation and can lower costly compensation claims. You, Your Team, and Your Coach The grand purpose of coaching is to help your managers, the people they manage, and your organization make the transition from where you are to where you want to be. Creating Unity In Your Company The other day I got a call from a friend of mine about an earlier conversation we'd had. Here's what we talked about: Years before he had started a company which has now grown to the point where it has many offices across the USA. On the surface it doesn't sound like there would be much to be unhappy about does it? The Top Ten Methods to Create a Successful Work Team Teams are often useful in situations where the task cannot be completed individually or if the task requires working interdependently. However, a successful team requires thought and planning. Too often, a group of individuals is simply thrown together, given a mandate, "marching orders" and then told, "Now go make us proud!" The Magic and Mystery of Teams As the world of manufacturing has become increasingly competitive, managers have diligently searched out new and innovative ways to increase productivity, multiply the power of every employee, and better utilize every resource in order to positively impact the bottom line. Building High Performing Teams: Putting the I Back in Teamwork Ever watched a really brilliant idea meet with resistance and die? Or been involved in the battle of wills created when two people (or two departments) meet head on with their independent agendas? Equally painful perhaps, have you ever sat through one tireless and non-productive meeting after the next? Believe it or not these issues are simply different sides of the same coin. Getting the right people talking together effectively and generating desirable outcomes is what high performance teamwork is all about. And it doesn't just happen. Think creatively about how to empower teams and reap the rich benefits of people's collective wisdom. How the P.R.I.D.E. Team Changed my Call Center Several years ago I took an assignment as a Manager in an outsourcing Call Center. Shortly after I started it became clear that several areas within the department needed improvement; absenteeism was high (19%), call takers lacked the enthusiasm about the programs to deliver quality customer service and seemed unconnected to the goals and metrics. � With the overall morale of the center in a less than pleasant state the management team weighed our options. We determined that any new rules rolled out by management may be perceived as "us vs. them" by the call taking teams. Rather than try to manage down with force we decided to get the people who were doing the work involved in the improvements. � It was clear, in order to make positive changes the call takers had to embrace the existing goals and embrace any changes we tried to make. What better way to do that then to include them in the process of making the changes. From this idea the P.R.I.D.E. team was formed. � People Really Involved in Developing Excellence � The first step was to roll out the concept of the P.R.I.D.E. team to the supervisors. I explained how the team would work and what we hoped to accomplish with it. The supervisors then rolled out the concept in their team meetings. � Basic Roll out: � Each team on the floor votes for a representative from their team to attend the P.R.I.D.E. meetings. P.R.I.D.E representatives gather issues, concerns and ideas from their teams and present them at the P.R.I.D.E meetings. The P.R.ID.E. Team will take action for improvement based on the ideas and discussions from each meeting. Meeting minutes will be distributed to the floor. � Once the roll out was complete and the teams elected representatives, the first meeting was called to order. We congratulated the new P.R.I.D.E. team representatives for being voted in by their teams and broke the ice by getting to know each other. � The group agreed on some ground rules and established time limits for discussion. I reiterated that the meetings will not be a gripe session; we will focus on improvement. We began discussing the issues challenging the center. � The high rate of Absenteeism (19%) was the issue we chose to bring to the table first. We asked the group why absenteeism was so high and asked what we as the management team could do to help. The representative's answers provided insight and ideas to improve attendance. �Suggestions ranged from things as simple as being welcomed to work in the morning, to more challenging tasks such as supervisors building better relationships with their team members. � The ideas and thoughts we tapped into gave us direction to improve this metric. Instead of pushing an elephant up the stairs, we were following the lead to reach our destination. � After listening to and acting on the P.R.I.D.E. Team's suggestions we started to see some very impressive changes. Over a three month period Absenteeism dropped to 3%! People were more excited about doing their jobs and finding ways to improve. There was a general buzz around the center. � Communication was one of the keys to our success. In addition to the P.R.I.D.E. Team members discussing the meetings with their team members and other co-workers, we documented the conversations from the meeting then distributed them to the floor to ensure no "behind closed door" perceptions. If time allowed supervisors would bring the P.R.I.D.E meeting notes to team meetings for discussions as well. � The meetings evolved. The more meetings we ran the more root causes we discovered. We listened to every issue big and small. We created subgroups to focus on large issues. Sometimes there were issues we could not do anything about, but we always provided an explanation on why action could not be taken. Listening to the representatives' ideas and making changes based on them created buy in for change. The call takers were more apt to make the ideas work because they came from them. � After the P.R.I.D.E. program was well in place, I turned it over to the senior supervisors to run. It was a great development opportunity and helped build relationships throughout the group. � Overall the P.R.I.D.E Team created a paradigm shift in the center. The existence and actions of the team sent a message that everyone in the center was part of the same team. The representatives realized their importance. There was only "us" instead of "us and them". The program created involvement, strengthened commitment to the company and opened communication gateways. Effective Team Building for Stronger Teams TEAM LEADERS WORKSHOP How to Turn Idea Squashers into Possibilities Managing a small business continues to become more challenging. However, history has shown that resourceful business owners will succeed. They will prosper, turning disadvantages into advantages by thinking creatively. Trust: A Critical Factor to Your Teams Success True or false? Teams that practice good teamwork contribute to an organization's success. Team Member Feedback: A Priceless Communication Tool Feedback is such an important communication tool. Openness, honesty, candor, trust -- all of these are hallmarks of high performance teams and organizations. Good feedback skills are essential to any relationship. Build a Great Team - Ten Easy Ways to Start! It's all about focusing on where the best value in using time lies. Who is the leader of the team and what is your best use of time. Getting to know your own value and appreciating where you add it best is a big, and very productive step. Resolving Workplace Conflict: 4 Ways to a Win-Win Solution The effects of conflict in the workplace are widespread and costly. Its prevalence, as indicated by three serious studies, shows that 24-60% of management time and energy is spent dealing with anger. This leads to decreased productivity, increased stress among employees, hampered performance, high turnover rate, absenteeism and at its worst, violence and death. What College Taught Me About Teamwork Training I declared a Communications Major two years into school, after discovering that it was a subject in which I had sincere interest. Now that I have graduated from college, I look back at the myriad of group projects and interactions that I had with the fellow students. I can remember many stressful periods of working together, but also many rewarding times of working together and accomplishing our tasks as a group. In hindsight those tasks would have been much easier to complete had we received some basic teamwork training at the beginning of our program. The Secret of Successful Events Reed Employment made a survey of their clients and compiled a report called Motivating People at Work. This revealed that social events that were both organised and paid for by employers have risen by 31 percent. This included team building days for departments and fun days open to the whole company and their families. There is no doubt that this trend has continued over the course of this year with most event management companies reporting bumper years. Boost Your Success With An R&D Team One of the best ways to ensure that your planning is successful is to create your own R&D (research and development) group. All truly successful businesses have departments or teams specifically dedicated to finding and developing new and better ways to do whatever it is the company does, so why not you? Always In Motion Is The Future It's the summer of 1973, and a young film director goes searching for a studio to distribute his new screenplay. Many say no, until one finally agrees to take a chance on him. Twentieth Century Fox has such little faith anyone will actually pay to see the movie that it agrees to give him - in exchange for the usual directing fee - 40% of the box office, plus sequel, publishing and merchandising rights.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2005 |