I DIDN'T KNOW THAT ABOUT YOU...

Posted: May 15, 2020

Learning more about who you are and what makes you tick, as well as the members of your team, leads to significant and important gains in your work team.

It’s true.

When you understand yourself and those around you one better, it naturally leads to more collaboration.

By learning that not everyone sees the world in the way that you do, it increases your ability to feel empathy towards others.

And what we know is that empathy leads to more collaboration.

When you consider how much the way work environments are changing in terms of remote work and virtual teams becoming the norm these days, never has considering how we work with our people and teams become more important to consider, than now.

Working remotely requires the ability to collaborate and work together in more productive and efficient manners, without the face-to-face feedback that in person collaboration provides.

And here’s the thing that I know to be unequivocally true about all people:

In most cases, what might simply be an innocent exchange between two people is always filtered through one’s own personality type and framework in the world.

So what might be a relatively objective behavior or comment often gets quickly interpreted and/or judged, based upon the receiving person’s own personality and projections.

And we all know how difficult it is to interpret meaning sometimes in an email or text message.

Have you ever gotten upset about an email or text message that you received, thinking someone meant one thing only to find out later you had taken it totally out of context?

I mean, this is a pretty common human phenomenon and not something that predicts ruin or demise.

What is problematic is when you move forward in your exchanges believing that your interpretation is true, without checking out the projection.

For example, you might have someone on your team who likes to double-check to make sure figures are correct. You just are not wired like that, so to you, they seem “nitpicky” or “controlling” and you dread working with them.

In fact, though, they might not be controlling at all, they might just be a particular personality type that likes to be thorough and pay close attention to details and facts.

When you experience a particular characteristic (or lack of it) in another person, what’s often happening is that you are actually projecting something about yourself on to the other person.

And this makes it incredibly difficult to see the objective situation for what it is: you and your teammate bringing your strengths to the table to get the job done.

And this interferes with the ability to collaboratively work together and support each other.

It pays to learn more about yourself and the people on your teams in order to create the most open and collaborative work environment for getting the job done, virtually or in person.

This invaluable information is the basis for self-awareness, discussion and feedback among colleagues, families and teams.

And there’s no better way to raise the bottom line and accelerate results.

It all starts with people.

Knowing who you are, who’s around you and how to best find your flow creates the kind of environment in which people thrive.

And happy people make happy employees. And happy employees are productive, engaged and committed.

Here’s the simple truth: it really does all start with people. Not everyone can do every job, but there is a job for everyone.

In this new age of remote and online work, “business as usual” isn’t going to cut it anymore.

And that’s what I am here to help you do: find your own unique way to maximize your teams and accelerate your results.

If you’d like to chat more about this and how I can get you there, let’s talk.

I am grateful that you are a part of my community and I am here to support you however I can.

Stay safe and be well.

Yours in Innovation,
Kate