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January 2019

Making Personalities Your Differentiator

January 23, 2019
John Ingram
Business Think Tank, Teambuilding Tips

People are uniquely different, but only through their thinking: nothing else should actually matter. Differences of opinion are the cornerstone of growth in a company, but sadly conflict can escalate to confrontation, and this causes a team to implode.

Good managers will ensure that this conflict remains healthy by guaranteeing it remains as a conflict or differences of opinion only. Managing different personalities can be the key to creating success in the workplace and creating a positive and innovative atmosphere.  But how do you achieve this? Here are four tips for managing personalities effectively:

First off, the FORMING phase.

In order for any team to move into the STORMING phase, they need to be able to have intelligent conversations with each other without belittling each other, throwing insults or backstabbing. There are many profiling systems, some simple and some complex, but in our situation, we use a simple DISC (Dominance, influence, steadiness and compliance) process which helps you as a manager understand the basics of:

  • The person’s two adaptive personalities and why they have these.
  • The predominant traits of their decision making, communication, planning, and motivation.
  • The compatibility of their work personality with the team and the team leader.
  • Areas to avoid and where their traits will add value
Beyond Teambuilding pride ourselves in creating events, activities and challenges that push any team past mediocrity, allowing them to express themselves in a way that unleashes a team synergy that is often lying dormant. Our teambuilding is done in two definitive ways; formal and informal. Both have merit and are used to create the specific objectives of your particular team’s needs.

This should be objectively discussed with the team member so that they are not fearful of its outcomes.

WARNING: don’t be fooled into recruiting only people similar to yourself or others. This will limit the team to YOU and do YOU know it ALL, can YOU do it ALL? You need difference. You need diversity in thinking as this generates creativity and innovation: the keys to growth.

Be prepared

People are creatures of habit. This means that they repeat patterns and behave in a predictable way. There are times when we want everyone on the same page, doing what is required as one, complying with managers or customers’ requests, but when it’s time for the flair to flow, we need difference. Be prepared for conflict as conflict is what you need to grow. A golden rule of dealing with conflict is:

  1. Address it quickly and independently
  2. Always start with a true positive statement, like “I really enjoy working with you” or “I really enjoy your creativity”. This will de-sensitise any aggression from the meeting.
  3. Then move into the issue that irritates you, the behaviour that upset you and explain why it upset Don’t blame the person for the action but try to get them to explain why they did what they did and LISTEN.
  4. Stress the need to find a way forward “as you want to continue working with his/her creativity”. Oftentimes they will give you the solution, and it will be your job to agree or support. Don’t go in trying to get your own way, be prepared to understand and find a compromise if necessary.
  5. Thank the person for their commitment and repeat what is agreed.

And remember: praise in public, criticise in private.

Be respectful

Most normal people want to be treated with respect. No matter your differences, show each member of your team the same level of respect and courtesy. People are more likely to respond with respect, towards you and their fellow team members, ensuring that everyone works together.  Respect individual differences and how people manifest their personalities- this will go a long way in creating team spirit and facilitating collaboration at work.

If you want to know more about your own colleagues and how they should be managed to promote working together, find DISC profiling, team climate surveying and facilitated training courses through our training division.
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How to manage work “load” shedding

January 9, 2019
John Ingram
Teambuilding Tips, Training Trends

It’s 2019, and Eskom persists in keeping us in the dark and draining our treasury of its limited reserves. But there is a bigger threat than being left in the dark, and it’s work overload caused entirely by yourself.

Yes, little old innocent workaholic YOU! One of the biggest threats we face in achieving success is our ability to overload ourselves with tasks and underload ourselves with clear focus. I see the impact of this in most of the work I do with teams today, from the bottom of the pack admin clerk to the high fliers at the top of the food chain. They just cannot say no to work, more work and even more work.

The reason is varied but often has to do with FEAR, yes FEAR. It’s the FOMO of modern business, the need to keep your finger on the pulse, to be seen as irreplaceable, to know what’s “cooking” and more. The egocentric beings at work just keep on taking on more and more until the boasting becomes excuses;

  • I am up to my eyeballs!
  • This place can’t do without me!
  • I worked till 22h00 last night!
  • Be great if everyone else chipped in some time!
  • Sorry, I just had too many reports to finish!!
  • Again, just me and the boss working till late!
Beyond Teambuilding pride ourselves in creating events, activities and challenges that push any team past mediocrity, allowing them to express themselves in a way that unleashes a team synergy that is often lying dormant. Our teambuilding is done in two definitive ways; formal and informal. Both have merit and are used to create the specific objectives of your particular team’s needs.

The symptoms of overload come rapidly, and the quality of one’s work drops off very quickly. Once superb work suddenly becomes average and often incomplete or ridden with mistakes. Deadlines are missed, and the excuses become more and more fictitious. The rot has set in, and it’s very difficult to get out of this downward spiral. Self-pity abounds, and you become a pain in the butt to work with.

So how does this happen and how do we avoid it? A good boss will see it long before it happens and re-allocate work to ensure proper efficiencies and maintenance. But I said “good” boss?  Most bosses just love to see team members exhaust themselves with overtime and over commitment, so why stop it; it’s going to make them look good, not so?

Wrong! The overworked team eventually will implode and will need surgery in the near future.

Plan number 2: it’s all about YOU!

It’s only you who can decide what’s best for your capacity and only you who can shape your work ethic. The following will help you stay meaningful at work and ensure your standards don’t slip:

  1. Never start or accept work without clearly understanding WHY it’s beneficial to the organisation and why YOU need to do it?
  2. Is there someone in the organisation who is better equipped to do this work?
  3. Once it’s clear that it needs to be done, and by you, make sure you understand who will benefit from it and WHY?
  4. Take time to ask that person how they would want that work presented and whether there are any time constraints.
  5. Clarify time deviations and communication requirements.
  6. Set clear standards for all your work, schedule your work on a critical path basis.
  7. Creating a critical path simply means scheduling all your deliverable dates, prioritising the importance thereof and ensuring you work backwards to guarantee enough time is allocated to each task. If there is any risk of missing deadlines or clashes of priorities, then report this and or delegate to others who are competent enough to help.
  8. Refresh your thinking every evening.

This is a high-performance discipline that will ensure you promote your personal image and brand in the business and remain a meaningful player in any team.

Several of our teambuilding packages may seem like just a fun day out of the office, but in actual fact are riddled with activities that promote critical path analysis (Manic Motion), force teams to delegate effectively (Ubuntu Challenge) and ultimately urge participants to understand time constraining factors (Movie Maker).
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