Making Time for Team Building Relationships
4682
Business > Team Building
Mar 1, 2007
Martin Haworth
Making Time for Team Building Relationships
Whatever else you are doing - STOP! - whenever you engage with someone in conversation. Ignore pagers. Put off interruptions. At the very least make sure that you 'honour' the space that you have when you are in any sort of one-to-one with someone else.
If you have ever been in conversation with someone who was being continually interrupted, how did you feel? I guess you felt pretty devalued by their lack of focus on you, what you were saying and the issues you were discussing. In the busy lives we lead it is so difficult not to get disturbed. Here are some incidences of what you might look out for and beneath, some ideas on how you can do it differently:-
- Letting the phone take priority
- Having poor boundaries such that others disturb you whatever you would wish for
- Letting your boss do this to you
- Having an 'always open door' policy
- Not apologising and getting back to people if it is that urgent you must be disturbed
- Failing to keep appointments for one-to-ones
- Being distracted (checking e-mails when on the phone is typical)
- Talking too much
- Raising your own issues rather than listening fully to others
There are more!
What you can do to resolve this:-
1. Set standards where interruptees know they must not interrupt you in such circumstances
2. Fully focus on the other person
3. Find times to talk when you are less likely to be disturbed
4. Don't start a conversation when under time pressure and scoot off before completion (conversely, learn tactics to 'escape' when cornered by especially verbose individuals - just do it nicely!)
5. Close your door and mean it when you want focused one-to-one meetings
6. Have calls held when you are 'people' busy
7. Clear your desk and switch off computer screens
8. If senior management appear unexpectedly, give them feedback to avoid recurrence. Maintain commitments to your people.
9. Follow through on commitments you make
10. Show how you value people by acknowledging the contribution they make
11. Be consistent
The time invested in making people feel valued will make for great team spirit amongst your people and show yourself as a fine leader worthy of excellent followers!
The rewards will be immeasurable over time.
If you have ever been in conversation with someone who was being continually interrupted, how did you feel? I guess you felt pretty devalued by their lack of focus on you, what you were saying and the issues you were discussing. In the busy lives we lead it is so difficult not to get disturbed. Here are some incidences of what you might look out for and beneath, some ideas on how you can do it differently:-
- Letting the phone take priority
- Having poor boundaries such that others disturb you whatever you would wish for
- Letting your boss do this to you
- Having an 'always open door' policy
- Not apologising and getting back to people if it is that urgent you must be disturbed
- Failing to keep appointments for one-to-ones
- Being distracted (checking e-mails when on the phone is typical)
- Talking too much
- Raising your own issues rather than listening fully to others
There are more!
What you can do to resolve this:-
1. Set standards where interruptees know they must not interrupt you in such circumstances
2. Fully focus on the other person
3. Find times to talk when you are less likely to be disturbed
4. Don't start a conversation when under time pressure and scoot off before completion (conversely, learn tactics to 'escape' when cornered by especially verbose individuals - just do it nicely!)
5. Close your door and mean it when you want focused one-to-one meetings
6. Have calls held when you are 'people' busy
7. Clear your desk and switch off computer screens
8. If senior management appear unexpectedly, give them feedback to avoid recurrence. Maintain commitments to your people.
9. Follow through on commitments you make
10. Show how you value people by acknowledging the contribution they make
11. Be consistent
The time invested in making people feel valued will make for great team spirit amongst your people and show yourself as a fine leader worthy of excellent followers!
The rewards will be immeasurable over time.
Article Source: http://www.articlerich.com
?2006 Martin Haworth is a Business and Management Coach. He has hundreds more tips at his website, Coaching Businesses to Success.
Write a Review
Add to My Favorite
Refer it to Friend
Report Article
Other links owned by this user
It's a great idea to get yourself ready for retirement and there is no better time to start than as early as possible. This, of course, helps you plan to have enough funds set aside for the future. Whilst children set the scene for your
Category:
For eetings to consistently deliver the required perforance and hence outputs, it is critical to have a prepared counication process in advance of the eeting. This enables participants to be aware and where appropriate prepare for the
Category:
Building relationships with your people is the most valuable action you can take. This week, make the time to get to know your people better. Create spaces in your diary to have some conversations with them which will build
Category:
Feedback is a gift ? when done properly. The very word strikes fear into the hearts of millions of workers every day, because the only time they get feedback is when it is rolled by a manager who wants to criticise ? yet put a bit of positive spin on
Category:
It's a small thing, but it is so vital. In your business relationships, forgetting little things promised, causes erosion of trust and belief in you and all you stand for. And ultimately, those little things add up to a lot for your
Category:
Whatever you are doing - STOP! - whenever you engage with someone in conversation. Ignore pagers. Put off interruptions. At the very least make sure that you 'honour' the space that you have when you are in any sort of one-to-one with someone
Category:
If you think ahead and plan, many nightmare, panic and chaos situations can be overcome. By ensuring that you have a great group of people around you, there will be more to fall back on when the going gets h - because that, as they say, when the
Category:
In an ideal world, we would never have crises. Yet in the real world we do. Managing crisis is quite a challenge, so here are some thoughts on how to make it work best for you. Crisis management is about focus, pure and
Category:
Every day, ryone can make the world a better place. It's simple; it's quick and it is free. All it requires is a recipe containing you (yes, that's YOU!), awareness and a natural disposition to be brave enough, to change the day of
Category:
Meetings are valuable components of organisations. Yet ey need process, discipline and leadership/facilitation to work best. Here are some indicators to watch out for to highlight where ings may be going wrong. 1. No Agenda When
Category:
As the years go by, when the kids grow up and leave (if you're lucky!), you will, inevitably, start thinking about retirement and the great value having a good number of years to enjoy the autumn of your lives and your family around
Category:
Whilst 'early' retirement might sound wonderful, many people would not wish to be pensioned off quite that easily. In fact, worthwhile work in a stretching, yet enjoyable environment is probably much more likely to keep you feeling young,
Category:
Is it easier to have a bunch of people that are brand new to a team, or one that you mould from those you inherit? In my business life I only had the latter. An existing group of employees, in each business who I had to work with, from each
Category:
You start off alone. Be it as a solo business owner or a manager looking after a part of a larger business. It gets busier, you get distracted from what you want to do, because there's only one of you and you've only got one pair of
Category:
Other links at Business > Team Building
Visit the business section of your local bookstore and you'll probably find a section on "s" or " building". Listen to executives, professionals, consultants and academics, and they'll inevitably gush about the wonders of
Category:
This article offers information on how to bind your documents with a Color Coil binding machine, going over the selection of the proper size of coil, starting the binding process and crimping the document.
Category:
An article guide to selecting the correct london sporting venue for your event.
Category:
Picture yourself at a social gathering: a wedding, group interview, night down the pub. A stranger enters the room. Within few seconds, you'll have made a whole range of crucial judgments about this person. And you will be amazed to know that a research s
Category:
Developments related to information technology involved major advances in communication, such as the telegraph - which was really an electronic improvement on ancient methods such as drums and smoke signals, and later semaphore communication.
Category:
Site Sponsor
Directory Statistics
Articles: 68228
Categories: 501
Yahoo Entertainment
