The Ultimate Teamwork Exercise
September 12th, 2024 by Diane Conklin under Business - General, Business Strategy. No Comments.
I’m sitting at my desk watching high speed fiber being installed in my neighborhood.
It’s been a process.
And one that’s been kind of fun for me to watch.
Talk about a system and having it perfected…
It like watching human robots perform a task.
From the digging to the laying and the refilling of the holes – and putting the yard back so you’d almost not know they were there.
It’s pretty interesting – to me.
The thing that really got my attention is how these 8 or 10 men do all of this without much verbal communication at all.
Even with the window open, I can’t hear them talking much. They just go about doing their work. Each one of them as an individual yet working harmoniously as a team.
It’s how our teams should work…
Everyone doing their piece that contributes to the whole.
And…with only the necessary communication.
We have so many forms and ways to communicate today that it can be overwhelming – and overused.
Text
Phone
Email
Slack
Messenger
Not to mention those ever so important live, in person meetings.
My favorite (I’m being sarcastic) is when I get an email, text, slack message, and a call all within three tenths of a second of each other. I always laugh and think to myself, if I didn’t answer one mode of communication (you should always try my favorite one first) it probably means I’m not available right this second. But I’ll get back to you.
Watching the workers work this morning reminded me how much more selective we could all be in our communication.
The next time you think you need to talk to somebody, or meet with them, ask yourself if there’s a more efficient way to handle it. Better yet, ask yourself if it can wait until your next scheduled live meeting to discuss and handle.
Many times, waiting on hour or two – just hitting pause – makes the issue or challenge disappear and you may not even have to bring in another team member to handle or assist with it.
As always, like the guy walking around with the clipboard outside…always inspect what you expect!
To Your Success –
