Working On A Team.
That’s me there on the right. I was on a corporate team-building weekend in upstate New York. The corporation was Crain Publications and I was their graphics manager and fastest runner.
“CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG.” It is an over-used sentiment I continue to over-use. We have established that I am an independent thinker, individual, but I want you to know that I also love being a part of a team. I like the camaraderie, the shared experience, and the singular experience of belonging to a group. A team expericence can be more fulfilling than individual success. Participating on a team can also be frustrating, cause you to be less effective, and, in general, just drive you insane. Putting crazy people together in a room and then trying to manage your sanity proves to be quite the challenge.
Ever notice crazy people get mad at you when you call them crazy.
Sane people just agree with you.
The kind of crazy that most challenges my choice to proceed with a sound mind is the passive complainer who worries all the time. To complain is to make a statement that you are unhappy. If you state a dilemma without providing a solution, you have just made a complaint. To complain makes you a complainer, an unhappy person. To say things like, “I don’t like the color”, or “the printer is out of ink” without a proposal to end your problem are just negative statements. Why not say, “I don’t like the color. Would anyone mind if I contacted the supplier and changed it to blue.” Turn that negative statement into a positive one that shows how pro-active you are. Worriers are people who want to create scenarios in which their lack of movement is justified. They make “what if” statements you can’t argue with because the scenario they’ve created makes them right. Worriers generally don’t do any work and seem to think that if they make an obvious statement of doom, frequently near the end of the project, this somehow redeems them. It doesn’t, it just makes them the worst type of teammate: passive. Passive participants who want to rely on someone else to overcome their hurdles. They say things like, ‘I don’t know’, ‘I don’t know how’, and, ‘I made a phone call and no one answered’. They are the ones who ask you to meet but fail to state a time and place. Oops, am I complaining? What if someone is offended? Maybe, I’ll just wait and see… I don’t know.
So, here, I take a deep breath, realize we are not the same people, it’s not a ‘me’ effort but rather a team effort. It isn’t my decision. It is a team decision. I am not perfect, we are not perfect, and so, the result is not going to be perfect. Working together with a team means we must work together as a team because our team can’t get any better if we aren’t willing to work better as a team. If my intent is to lead by example, then I must continue the hard row and without judgment, continue on my path. Deep breaths everyone. In the spirit of teamwork, let’s go, team! JOE
