How to Stay in Sync When Your Organization is Spread Out

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One of the 7Cs of team resilience is coordination, which means aligning your priorities and actions to be in sync across your organization.

It is easy for an organization to get out of sync if it has offices in many different locations. The most common challenge for dispersed organizations is the disconnect between the realities of a field office and the view from headquarters.

Organizations will be more resilient and productive if field offices and headquarters actively work to stay in sync as much as possible. Here are some suggestions for keeping headquarters and field offices in sync:

Clarify Organizational Goals

Without clear goals, offices may find themselves going in different directions or even working at cross purposes. Tension often develops when headquarters has a different perception of their goals than the field offices. If this is the case, work with colleagues to clarify mission goals and ensure you have a shared understanding of these goals.

Create Working Groups

If you have shared problems across the organizations, create working groups to develop possible solutions. Draw employees from various work units, positions, and locations. Encourage members to be open and share multiple perspectives, working through conflict and differences to reach a unified way forward.

Build Connections

Use technology to develop relationships across the various offices. Find reasons for colleagues to travel and spend time in the same physical location once it’s safe to be together. Headquarters staff should visit field offices regularly. When people know and understand each other, they are more likely to work through conflict rather than blame each other when things don't go well. When we know each other, we see each other as human beings instead of titles/positions.

We Are Where We Sit

We all see the world from our unique perspective based on where we sit. Someone in headquarters will perceive an issue differently than a field office employee simply because they sit in different places. For example, headquarters may feel the pressure of the 24/7 news cycle more acutely and, therefore, be more demanding in requesting information from a field office, which is more focused on day-to-day work. Recognizing that no one is "right" and seeking to understand other perspectives will help everyone find the best approach in the long run.

It’s Better to Be In Sync Than right

Avoid the temptation to stubbornly insist on your position despite opposing views, especially if you are a senior leader. I've seen well-intentioned leaders demand that employees accept their direction only to have them fight even harder to prove the leader wrong. Suppress the need to be right and work with colleagues to find a way forward that works for everyone.

Hierarchy Doesn’t Work

Resist the temptation to use positional power to demand coordination. When employees are forced to comply, they often find ways to undermine the effort. Hierarchy can also kill innovation and reduce productivity since staff will usually check with leadership for permission to do something. Instead, encourage all staff to become involved in developing shared goals and values so they are committed to staying in sync.

Talk to People

Given time zone differences and the realities of working in different places, it is not surprising that most communication between headquarters and field offices is via email. An email is a useful tool for many forms of communication, but when it becomes our only tool, communication will falter. We can resolve misunderstandings much more quickly when we talk to someone. Negotiations are much more effective in person. Never fight over email or messenger.

Manage Expansion

One of the reasons organizations struggle with coordination is that they expand very fast in numbers of employees and mission scope. Expansion breaks down systems and structures that need to be rebuilt or refined. If growth is too rapid, there is no time to develop new ways of staying in sync. It's better to slow down expansion efforts to ensure that systems are keeping pace. 

What has helped you stay in sync and minimize tensions between headquarters and field offices?

___________________________

To learn more about how you and your team can thrive in adversity, visit my website, and follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. And, check out my online Resilience Leadership course.

Want a Competent Team? Focus on Training.

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Training is one of the best ways to improve competence, an essential element of team resilience. Resilient teams are innovative, creative, collaborative, and flexible. They thrive despite chronic stress, change, and disruption.

Unfortunately, when resources are tight and pressures to produce are high, one of the first things we sacrifice is time and money for training. While this may result in a few short-term gains, it is counterproductive in the long run.

It is critically important to invest in training even when resources are scarce. Here are some tips on how to do that:

Establish Set Training Times

Structure your work schedules to allow for regular training days or half days, ideally at least once per month. Having regularly scheduled training times highlights that training is a priority and prevents it from being indefinitely delayed because there is no time.

Budget for Professional Development

Set aside at least 5% of your budget for professional development and resist the temptation to dip into these funds for other purposes. If you look at training as investing in future productivity, 5% of a budget is not much to pay now for future benefits.

Use Individual Development Plans

Encourage managers to discuss development goals with all of their direct reports regularly. At the beginning of every year, have each employee map out a training plan for the coming year. A written agreement helps managers communicate effectively with their employees about expectations and commits both individuals to a clear training program.

Train as a Team

Find ways to train together as a team, such as regularly scheduled team off-sites. In addition to building essential skills, you’ll also improve trust, relationships, and communication among team members.

Take Advantage of Free Training

There are lots of webinars and training tools available online that don't require travel or tuition. Explore your options.

Train in Small Doses

Don't limit your training to long courses or webinars that are available only at set times. Training opportunities can be as short as 10-minute sessions in staff meetings. Encourage staff to design short training sessions they can give to colleagues on subjects the team finds relevant.

Training is Not a Reward

Don't treat professional development as a reward for performance or a benefit that you must distribute evenly across a team. Make training decisions, particularly those that include travel, based on the knowledge and skills needed by individuals. There should be a business case for who gets what training.

Extend the Benefits of Formal Training

Ask people who complete a formal training course to later brief their colleagues on what they learned. A briefing extends the benefits of formal training and also ensures that participants are engaged and get what they need from classes.

How do you promote training to build competence in your team?

___________________________

To learn more about how you and your team can thrive in adversity, visit my website, and follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. And, check out my online Resilience Leadership course.

Want to Improve Team Resilience? Strengthen Relationships

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Building social connections with your work colleagues will improve your team's resilience. When you know the people you work with, you're more likely to give them the benefit of the doubt if they do something that hurts you. You'll also be more likely to work through conflict and collaborate on projects more effectively.

Unfortunately, coronavirus has made it much more difficult to build and maintain work relationships. As we start to return to the workplace, make it a priority to reach out to colleagues and build connections.

While parties are the most common way to encourage social interaction at work, they are not that effective. They can overwhelm introverts, who will often avoid the party. People tend to talk only to people they already know at a party, rarely meeting new people. And, research shows that when people engage only in small talk, which parties promote, they become less close over time. Virtual parties can be particularly draining, especially if you’re teleworking and spending most of your time on a computer.

Instead, look for activities that promote meaningful conversations and forge authentic connections. Here are some suggestions for ways you can build strong connections in the workplace:

Ask a Colleague to Lunch

Eating together is a social glue that strengthens relationships and fosters personal connections. Cornell psychologist Brian Wansink studied firehouses and found that firefighters who shared group meals performed better as a team than firefighters who ate solo. You don't need to spend money in a restaurant; eating together in a break room or on a park bench, or having a virtual lunch is enough.

Be Creative Together

Instead of planning a traditional team off-site, consider hosting an event where the team works together on a creative project. One of my favorite group activities is PaintFests organized by the Foundation for Hospital Art. Another option is an annual Share Your Passion event where employees demonstrate their hobbies for each other. If you want to keep it virtual, use a tool such as Google Pixel Art to set up a shared spreadsheet and encourage team members to add to a joint drawing. See where the drawing takes you every time a different team member adds their colors and designs.

Start a Book Club

Book clubs are a great way to build camaraderie while also improving professional development among staff. And, it is easy to have virtual club meetings. Check out this website for pointers on how to start a book club at work.

Create working groups

Identify organization-wide issues that would benefit from collaboration and problem solving and create working groups to develop ideas and solutions. In addition to bringing people together from different work units, you'll also provide growth opportunities for working group chairs.

Create a Workspace That Brings People Together

Whether it's a water cooler, jigsaw puzzle table, or shared coffee maker, ensure your workplace has a space that naturally encourages people to gather. Conversations that take place while we wait for the coffee to brew can be compelling. Create a Slack channel for posting photographs of pets or employees engaged in their hobbies. Here are some fun ideas for Slack channels that help build resilience: https://museumhack.com/5-channels-better-slack-use/.

Encourage Wellness Activities

If you have space, organize regular yoga, meditation, Tai Chi, or other wellness activities sessions. Step competitions are another way to build relationships and can be done virtually. In addition to improving the well-being of employees, these activities will strengthen bonds between participants.

Cross-Train

Encourage employees to train for work in other units and divisions. Cross-training will improve professional development while creating connections between people across the organization.

Have Informal Conversations

It amazes me how often people spend time together in an elevator without talking. Make it a point to say hello to people you meet in an elevator and then follow up with a question that sparks a conversation. If you’re working virtually, reach out to colleagues for a quick, informal chat.

What do you do to build connections with your work colleagues?

___________________________

To learn more about how you and your team can thrive in adversity, visit my website, and follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. And, check out my online Resilience Leadership course.

Want to Be Successful? Put People First

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I will never forget the first time I thought I would die. It was October 1994, and I was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait. Without warning, Saddam Hussein revealed that he had over 70,000 troops on the Kuwait/Iraq border ready to invade.

While Kuwait had plenty of military hardware, they did not have enough troop strength to repel an invasion. And, it would take U.S. troops three days to arrive. We knew that if Iraq invaded before our troops arrived, our lives were at risk.

Since I was the notetaker for the embassy's emergency meetings to respond to this threat, I saw first-hand how our embassy team fell apart under stress. We never believed Saddam would invade Kuwait a second time and therefore had no contingency plans. A resilient team, however, would have been innovative, collaborative, and able to respond despite the lack of planning and high stress. Instead, we were frighteningly inept.

Our ambassador made one major mistake that significantly eroded our team's resilience. He communicated to embassy personnel that our country’s bilateral relationship with Kuwait was a higher priority than our safety and security.

For understandable foreign policy reasons, the ambassador did not want to give the impression that we were panicking and he instructed staff to maintain the status quo. Employees were told to send their children to school as usual and to keep their families in the country. The embassy community’s anxiety worsened as the ambassador spent much of his time with Kuwaiti officials and too little time meeting with and reassuring staff and families.

While Saddam did not invade, the result of putting policy before people was an angry and bitter embassy community with low morale and productivity.

In contrast, the U.S. Ambassador to Nepal’s actions after the 2015 earthquakes demonstrate the benefits of putting people first. When the first earthquake hit, the ambassador’s only priority was the safety of all embassy personnel. He focused on staff well-being, shifting towards the bilateral relationship with the government of Nepal only after he was confident that mission employees were okay. 

Despite the security and logistical challenges, the ambassador let every employee and their families move to the embassy compound since it was the safest place in the country. He allowed people to bring their pets knowing how much animals mean to people and how tragic it would have been to leave pets behind. The ambassador and other senior embassy leaders walked around the compound every day checking on people, listening to feedback, and making sure they were all right.

His actions sent the message that he cared about people and would overcome challenges when needed to protect them.

Knowing that they and their loved ones were valued and safe enabled the embassy staff to devote themselves entirely to assisting American citizens and the people and government of Nepal. As a result, the Nepalese view the United States as genuine partners, and private U.S. citizens praised embassy personnel for the quality of assistance they provided. Embassy employees were proud of the work they did, and after the crisis ended, most were healthy and unscarred.

It can be tempting to prioritize policy or profits over people. However, a lack of consideration for people (one of the 7Cs of team resilience) will inevitably erode the resilience of a team and risk mission failure. Instead, putting people first means that a resilient team will be able to achieve policy goals and earn profits because they are more capable and productive.

Do you have a story about a leader who did or did not put people first?

___________________________

To learn more about how you and your team can thrive in adversity, visit my website, and follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. And, check out my online Resilience Leadership course.

Want a More Resilient Team? Improve Communication.

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

When team members feel well-informed about work-related events, the team is more likely to thrive in adversity. Keeping people informed sounds simple, right?

Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as it sounds to communicate the right amount of information to the right people at the right time.

I've conducted dozens of resilience training sessions for teams around the world, and most of them identify communication as their most significant problem area.

Given the complexity of how people communicate, how do you encourage sufficient information sharing without overwhelming team members? Here are a few tips:

Reduce Email

While email can be a useful communication tool, it is often overused. Many of us use email instead of picking up the phone or walking down the hall because it is quick and easy. However, when we do that, we lose context and nuances and may say something we wouldn't express in person. That's why it's best to avoid fighting or negotiating by email. Use email to memorialize conversations, provide clear taskings, and for simple communications. Speak in person for more complex discussions.

Encourage Questions

Questions spark dialogue, which is a much more productive form of communication than only reporting what you know or did. Senior leaders often speak much more than they should because they have the most power in the room. Instead, they should be asking questions, soliciting input, and seeking out other's thoughts and ideas. I write the word "wait" in my notebook to remind myself to ask, "why am I talking?"

Promote Critical Thinking

The Foundation for Critical Thinking defines this as "self-guided, self-disciplined thinking which attempts to reason at the highest level of quality in a fair-minded way." Critical thinkers are open-minded, willing to hear alternative approaches, and challenge their assumptions. If you're senior, give staff permission to challenge your conclusions and decisions respectfully.

Solicit Differing Views

Before expressing your opinion, solicit input from your colleagues. Ask if anyone has an alternative view. Be open to hearing different ideas and suggestions. If you're the decision-maker, thank everyone for their input and explain why you chose one direction over the alternatives.

Share Information

Information is power, and many people are reluctant to share this power. There may be good reasons to limit information sharing, such as HR rules or political risk, but make not sharing the exception rather than the rule. 

Run Good Meetings

While meetings are an essential forum for information sharing and dialogue, most people hate them because they aren't run well. Make sure your meetings are worthwhile by starting on time, keeping them short, having clear agenda items, and encouraging robust discussions. Check out this advice from Forbes on how to run successful meetings.

Avoid Communication Vacuums

In a crisis, most people are hungry for information. When we get a hint of bad news coming, many people try to gather as much information as possible to be prepared for the hit. If leadership doesn't quickly provide details, rumors start to spread, and gossip takes over. Leaders must fill this vacuum with something, even if it's to say, "I don't know, but I'll let you know when I hear something." Resist the temptation to wait until you have all of the facts before saying something. Instead, immediately share what you do know and promise regular updates.

What have you done to improve communication in your workplace?

___________________________

To learn more about how you and your team can thrive in adversity, visit my website, and follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. And, check out my online Resilience Leadership course.

How to Cope with the Death of a Co-Worker

When I was the Consul General in Kolkata, one of my employees committed suicide while on leave in the United States. The news came as a shock. While many of us did not know him well, he was a valued member of our team and the loss hit us hard. His staff, who had worked closely with him for over a year, were particularly devastated and struggled to come to terms with the news.

Luckily, a colleague who had experience with workplace deaths gave me excellent advice on how to rebuild and maintain my team’s resilience after losing a colleague. Here’s what I learned from this experience:

Take Time to Grieve

While work must continue, don’t return to business as usual right away. Give staff the time and space to work through their grief.

Everyone Grieves Differently

Grief is a very personal experience and everyone has different ways of coping. Some people want to jump back into work to distract themselves from the loss. Others need to process grief with their colleagues. A sudden workplace death may spark personal memories for co-workers who lost loved ones, triggering even more grief for these individuals.

Attend the Memorial Service

If possible, and if the family welcomes attendance, make sure that everyone in the office is able to attend the memorial service, while taking necessary precautions to be safe from coronavirus. While you may need to close the office for a few hours or even a day, memorial services are an important venue to share memories and provide support to family and friends. It will also help colleagues find meaning in the midst of a significant loss. In my situation, Kolkata was too far away from the family’s memorial service to attend so we held a separate memorial service at the consulate and sent photos and the signed memorial book to his family.

Connect With the Family

Reach out to the employee’s family to express your condolences and talk about how much the employee was valued in the workplace. Ask the family how they would like to handle any personal items left in the office. Be open to family members coming to the office and be generous about sharing positive stories. After someone dies, family members often want to learn more about their loved ones. By being compassionate and open with the family, you are communicating with colleagues that you value them as a person, not just an employee.

Be Thoughtful in How You Replace the Employee

Since work must get done, you will eventually need to clean out the employee’s workplace and find a replacement. Don’t move too quickly, however, since every change will trigger grief and loss. Give employees time to process changes. For example, let them know a few days in advance that family members are picking up the employees’ personal items. Provide advance notice that the position is being advertised or the office is going to be occupied by someone new. This will give people time to process the news so when they see the changes, they are more prepared. Consider dropping cell the person’s phone number rather than reassigning it to another employee.

Create a Memorial

Memorials signal that while we lost someone, they are still important to the living. Memorials can have a powerful impact on a team because it also signals how much you care about all employees and that they will also not be forgotten upon their deaths. Memorials can be temporary, such as a board with post-it notes for messages and memories. Or they can be permanent, such as a tree planted in a common area to provide a quiet area for reflection and prayer.

Talk About the Employee

Death makes us all uncomfortable and it can be tempting to avoid talking about the employee’s death in order to avoid this discomfort. However, silence will often have a more negative effect, with employees ruminating about what happened and not feeling able to express their thoughts. Also, employees may think their colleague has been quickly forgotten and wonder if they will also be forgotten if they die. Take time in staff meetings to ask about how people are doing and what they are thinking. Solicit memories and stories about your colleague.

Have you lost a co-worker? What impact did it have on you and your office?

___________________________

To learn more about how you and your team can thrive in adversity, visit my website, and follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. And, check out my online Resilience Leadership course.

How to Forge One Work Culture

Image by truthseeker08 from Pixabay

When the U.S. government shut down several years ago, I saw how difficult it was to maintain team resilience in the State Department because of the disparities between various groups. Most people think of national and racial differences when it comes to culture. But, every group, no matter how small, develops its way of doing things, values, and practices that form a culture. 

In the workplace, this can manifest itself as different ways of communicating, interacting, or making decisions. One group may have a slow but steady pace of work while another is quick and reactive. A team of accountants may have a different culture than a group of attorneys.

Even the most cohesive teams have the potential to fracture based on natural affinities, roles, and designations. Resilient organizations incorporate all groups into one shared culture that does not impose a dominant approach on the rest of the team and values all groups equally. They actively minimize, if not eliminate, natural fractures. If action is not taken to remove fissures, they can become breaks during a crisis and threaten the team's effectiveness.

Here are some individual and group approaches to limit the fractures on your team by inspiring one team culture:

Promote Shared Values and Goals

Identify your shared values and goals and promote them among your team. Focus on similarities rather than differences. Demonstrate how each member of the team contributes to the shared mission. Value all team members equally. For example, Loyola's basketball team created a Wall of Culture to remind every team member of their shared values.

Recognize Your Unconscious Biases

Understand your background and position in the organization and ask yourself whether you have inherent biases on how you view the team culture. Is there a dominant culture that doesn't recognize the other cultures in the group? Try to see the team from your colleagues' perspectives. How are they the same and different? Ask your colleagues how they feel about being a member of the team. If they feel like outsiders or feel devalued, find out why and work to change the team dynamics.

Share Stories

One of the best ways to build one team is to learn each other's stories. Ask your colleagues about their history with the office. What are the highlights? What are their challenges? I worked with an embassy team that had a long-standing break between American and local staff because locals felt betrayed by the Americans decades earlier. They repaired their cracks when Americans started learning the local staffs' stories.

Words Matter

Think about the language you use in the workplace. One of the most destructive phrases is "just a" (he's "just an administrative assistant," or she's "just an intern"). Eliminate this phrase from your vocabulary. Make sure the way you refer to each other is not creating unnecessary divisions.

Imagine Working Without Your Teammates

Imagine trying to accomplish the work your office does without the contributions of everyone on your team. Think about how each person contributes to the overall mission and how critical they are to your success. How different would your team be without their unique contributions? Now that you've experienced feelings of loss think about what you can do to show your colleagues how much you value them.

Tackle the Hard Issues

Resist the temptation to have token appreciation events in hopes this will show undervalued team members how much you care. Instead, commit every day to make sure all colleagues feel they belong and are valued, and that their culture is incorporated into one broader team culture that does not discriminate among team members. For example, during the government shutdown, my leadership could have allowed many of the language instructors to work despite suspending training since they were not federal employees and the institute had already obligated the funds for their contracts. However, this decision would have been politically risky and not easy to implement. This group of staff suffered severe financial hardship while others received back pay, causing bitterness between various groups and a drop in morale.

Creating one culture is one of the 7Cs of team resilience. To learn more about how you can build a team that thrives in adversity, check out my blog on the 7Cs of team resilience.

How have you forged one culture in your office?

___________________________

To learn more about how you and your team can thrive in adversity, visit my website, and follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. And, check out my online Resilience Leadership course.

How Colin Powell Demonstrated Commitment

Department of State of the United States of America [Public domain]

When leaders promote the 7Cs of Team Resilience, they ensure team members are well prepared for the unexpected and can respond effectively during a crisis.

This week Colin Powell turned 84 years old. His birthday reminded me that he is one of my favorite Resilience Leader role models because he made the time to foster these 7Cs despite his overwhelming workload as U.S. Secretary of State.

Secretary Powell regularly demonstrated his commitment to State employees and, as a result, he built an agency that thrived despite the challenges we faced during his tenure.

Here's a personal example of how Secretary Powell demonstrated this commitment and how it made a difference.

In June 2003, the U.S. Department of State sent me to Baghdad to open the Office of the U.S. Consul. The security situation was unpredictable, and there were many attacks against diplomatic facilities. In October, insurgents rocketed the Al-Rashid Hotel where I was staying. While I survived a rocket hitting my room, I was traumatized and struggled to regain my equilibrium.

Soon after the attack, the Department's HR office sent me an email asking for feedback on a new incentive package to encourage Foreign Service personnel to take assignments in Iraq. I was exhausted, angry, and bitter and wrote a very nasty response. At the end of my email, I told them, in a snarky "I don't expect this to happen" way, that the only thing I wanted was for Secretary Powell to say to my parents that he was keeping me safe.

In November, I traveled back to Washington DC to receive an award for my actions after the Al-Rashid bombing. My parents attended the ceremony, and just before it began, one of the organizers asked if my parents would please watch from a specific spot in the room.

After giving me an award, Secretary Powell left the stage and walked over to my parents. He introduced himself, shook their hands, and told them, "don't worry, I'm keeping your daughter safe." He comforted my parents and gave me the strength I needed to return to Baghdad and complete my assignment. After that day, I was willing to do anything for Secretary Powell, regardless of the risk or personal sacrifice.

Why did this simple act contribute to my resilience and inspire me when I returned to a dangerous, unpredictable environment? I felt that Secretary Powell, despite his power and responsibilities, was genuinely committed to me and my family's well-being. He cultivated a team of people who were willing to forgive my anger, who were allowed to bring requests to him from junior staff, and who worked with him to make the time to fulfill what I thought was an unrealistic request. Demonstrating authentic commitment to his team members was ingrained in how he conducted himself and his operations. It made a difference.

How do you demonstrate your commitment to team members?

___________________________

To learn more about how you and your team can thrive in adversity, visit my website, and follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. And, check out my online Resilience Leadership course.

The 7Cs of Team Resilience

Team resilience is the capacity of a group of people to respond to change and disruption in a flexible and innovative manner. In the face of adversity, resilient teams maintain their work productivity while minimizing the emotional toll on their members. 

A collection of people with high individual resilience does not automatically result in a resilient team. For example, I worked with a U.S. Consulate that had resilient staff who performed well as individuals when they experienced a traumatic incident. They also recovered quickly after the event. However, they struggled to respond during the crisis because they did not work effectively as a team.

Teams need to regularly foster the following 7Cs of Team Resilience in order to ensure they are capable as a team and ready for the unexpected:

Culture

The team has shared values, identity, history, and purpose that bind them together. Teams share stories that help describe their history and identity. Team members can answer the question “who are we together?”

Competence

Team members have the capacity and skills they need to meet demands, particularly during times of crisis and high stress. They have the knowledge and abilities they need to be successful. Team members share their competence with each other.

Connections

Team members know each other and have formed strong relationships. Teammates are treated as individuals not as positions or titles.

Commitment

Team members are dedicated to each other and to a shared mission. They demonstrate respect and loyalty to colleagues and will give something of value (time, money, effort) to support others. They will keep their promises and protect teammates from harm even when it is hard to do so.

Communication

All team members feel well-informed about what is going on in the workplace. Colleagues willingly share information and encourage questioning, critical thinking, and dialogue. Teammates welcome differing views.

Coordination

The team is synchronized across the organization and its goals are well-aligned with other organizational goals. Teammates work through conflict to ensure they are working in sync with each other.

Consideration

Team members support their colleagues’ personal needs as well as professional goals. They express gratitude and appreciation to each other.  

Check out my other blogs that explore each one of these 7Cs and how you can strengthen them in your workplace.

What has help your team build and maintain resilience?

I help individuals and teams thrive in adversity by providing practical skills and tools I developed over several decades as a U.S. diplomat in challenging environments. Visit my website to learn more about how I can help you and your team avoid burnout and become more innovative, collaborative, and productive despite overwhelming challenges, constant change, and chronic stress. Follow me on Twitter at @payneresilience.

We Work With People, Not Positions

Photo by Randalyn Hill on Unsplash

Consideration, showing appreciation for and taking care of other people, is one of the 7Cs of team resilience and is key to building a team that responds to change and disruption with flexibility and innovation.

One common barrier to fostering consideration in the workplace is that people treat each other as tools or resources, not as human beings. Too often, office culture values roles and positions, not people. This tendency to focus on titles, with people becoming nameless and faceless, undermines the resilience of our teams and too often leads to mission failure.

Recognizing and overcoming this tendency to overlook the human factor will strengthen work teams and make it easier to achieve mission goals. Here are some tips on how you can promote team resilience by recognizing your colleagues as human beings:

Get to Know Each Other

Ask people about themselves, their families, their personal goals, hobbies, and dreams. If you are a supervisor, use your first meeting with a new employee to learn about them. Resist the temptation to jump into mission goals, saving that conversation for a later meeting. Invite colleagues to lunch or for coffee and talk about yourselves rather than work issues. Sometimes your teammates may not want to talk about themselves, but most people appreciate being asked.

Step Back

It is easy to focus only on work when there is a never-ending flow of demands. Take five minutes and step back. Ask yourself what would be the worst outcome if this task does not get done right away. Think about the people doing that project. What do they need? Are they getting enough support?

Use Names, Not Titles

When referring to colleagues, use their names and resist the temptation to use titles or designations. Government employees often fall into this trap since we are trained to use acronyms and it is easier to use titles. This tendency to refer to colleagues only by title dehumanizes the person in the position. For example, instead of saying “the secretary is late today”, say “George is late today”.

Develop Empathy

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. Put yourself in the shoes of colleagues and make an effort to see issues from their viewpoints.

Stop Making Assumptions

Many of us assume we know what colleagues are thinking, what they want, and how they are reacting. Instead of making assumptions, ask questions. Find out from them what they are thinking and feeling.

Build on People’s Strengths

Help people understand where and how they contribute most effectively given the skills and abilities they have. If people need to learn new skills or overcome weaknesses, focus on how they can grow and improve rather than where they are deficient.

Deal With Poor Performance and Misconduct

Addressing poor performance and misconduct is one of the hardest things a manager can do. Managers are often reluctant to have honest and difficult conversations with employees. They risk having complaints filed against them or creating conflict. By taking on this challenge, managers communicate to the rest of the team that the hard work is worth the effort and risk to improve the working conditions for the rest of the group.

How do you create a culture that values people, not positions?

___________________________

 To learn more about how you and your team can thrive in adversity, visit my website, and follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. And, check out my online Resilience Leadership course.