1936 I Learned It From Watching You.

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You don’t need to be friends with your boss, or the reverse, but you should, ideally, both respect each other, support each other, and be an appreciative part of a team. A group of people with a common goal should appreciate the contributions of each member and strive to contribute to the best of their abilities. Of course that isn’t always going to happen for a practically infinite variation of reasons. Still, you can shoot for this kind of cohesion & if it fails, well it’s probably going to work better than if you didn’t. There’s always next time, unless you die, or it’s your last chance, or whatever. Sincere appreciation makes for an effective glue when it comes to team spirit. Most people, even the ones who balk at hearing it, will remember and reciprocate even if they act like they don’t care.

14 Comments

I used to have a manager who led where i work now and she was awesome but sadly she got moved to another store and since then the company adopted a different management style…

That’s unfortunate.

Same thing happened just recently – I had left one job to pick up another at another fantastic company. The team I left behind I stay in touch with, and they told me that upon my leaving, my previous company hired a micro-manager and made that their new stance for all management going forward (hideously impossible to meet KPIs with constant monitoring and nitpicking). They also told me the VP sent out an email to the new manager saying his team was starting to not give a damn about the quality of work, just getting things done faster to just meet deadlines. Oh, gee, wonder why that is?

I find that those who end up in managerial positions that as a kid was involved in an organization like scouts, guides, RPG clubs, and similar, tended to have a good grasp of teamwork and cooperation.

I think it boils down to being in a small groups, having to work together to get things done and have fun while doing so. The magic number seems to be 6 though slightly smaller or larger numbers can manage with some extra effort by everyone involved.

As a manager (I hate that title, by the way – “manager” as I prefer something more like “coach”) the reality is keeping people invested in their work, and engaged via communication. Most of my best bosses have been people who actually TALK to people who are their direct reports and take time to tell you what’s going on. I do that, and I try to help my team see the positive results of their hard work (I always provide positive feedback) so they feel invested in what they are doing. Also, I always point out outstanding individuals but respond to my management with “we” when I talk about accomplishments. I never take credit for anything – it’s always a team effort.

One other thing I find that helps. I’m a huge nerd with many hobbies (video/tabletop games, comic books, movies, music, art, etc) so when my team talks about any of those, I listen and if I find somewhere I can throw in a comment or two, I do. When the team finds we can connect on common ground, we stay entertained and communicate. And work better together.

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