Articles

Working To Keep Your Best People

"Teamwork-we need teamwork in our organization to be successful." This was the response I heard over and over again as I called the various seminar participants prior to the meeting. They continued to stress the importance of good communication skills and working as a team to place a great place to work.

As I continued to ask more in depth questions and studying their work patterns and environment, I soon realized that teamwork was a buzz word they were just using to summarize their feelings about the lack of respect and cooperation they were receiving from their coworkers.

In this particular work environment employees were mostly in charge of their own projects versus the entire office working together on one common project. What seemed to be lacking was respect and cooperation among the employees. Complaints would surface when one employee thought their project was more important than others. Staff meetings became unproductive as employees felt their ideas are becoming squelched by other employees. They began to keep their thoughts and opinions to themselves.

In our competitive world we sometimes forget the importance of respect and cooperation--the basic skills of getting along with each other and supporting other people's endeavors. TV court room shows have gained vast popularity. The average citizen could probably name a TV court room judge quicker than a US Supreme court judge. On television court room shows two people bring a conflict to the judge and ask for a ruling to settle the matter. There is always a winner and a loser. Many times people take ques either consciously or subconsciously on ways to pattern their lives from what is happening in our culture. Sporting events are another influence on today's society from pre school to professional teams. Team coaches usually stress team work within their own team but once again there is usually a winner or a loser.

Somewhere along the way people are forgetting the cooperation and respect we need to show to other people. In the December/January issue of the Working Women in an article on Missing Manners, the author Kathleen Jacobs shares, "People are so busy rushing, they're not taking the time for basic niceties, such as saying hello to a coworker in the hall. With more work and less time, people feel overwhelmed. Sometimes they don't realize they are being rude. Even little things such as refilling an empty paper cartridge so the next person isn't stuck, really do help out. Treat others like you'd like to be treated."

Determining the reason why people choose either cooperation or competition maybe be helpful in evaluating your work environment. In the book, Management Would be Easy... If it Weren't for the People, by Patricia Addesso, Ph.D. she cites the five factors that influence that decision.

1. "Our perception of the situation. We may perceive a win/lose situation and see competition as the only option, when in fact a win/win solution is possible."
2. "The behavior of the other person. We do not generally behave according to the golden rule. Instead, we treat others the way they treat us, a concept called reciprocity."
3. "Our attributions about people's behavior. If someone cooperates with us, we will attempt to figure out the cause of the behavior. If we attribute their cooperation to the fact that they are a nice person, we will react differently that if we attribute their cooperation to an attempt to manipulate us."
4. "The number of people involved. Our tendency toward cooperativeness declines as group size increases."
5. "Our general personality. Some people are just naturally more competitive than others, and some are more cooperative."

As an employer or employee you might ask yourself, "What am I doing to promote cooperation and respect in my place of work? How can we support and help each other?" People want to work in an environment where they are nurtured and encouraged. Encouraging cooperation and respect is a key to keeping your best people.