I was running a team building event with 12 people. I had introduced the Key Principle –treat others as they want to be treated rather than as you want to be treated and we were teasing out the implications of this for good working relationships.
At this point the team leader turned to his team and said:
“I apologise to you. I love challenges, it fires me and I thought that worked for everyone”.
He had just learned that some of his team felt dumped on when he issued challenges.
Many other examples emerged within the team of people getting it ‘wrong’ for each other, although well-intentioned.
“Don’t thank me for doing my job. I know you mean well, but I feel patronised”.
The goodwill was obvious in the room. The degree of relationship dysfunction was also high. They agreed to run weekly lunch ‘n learn sessions where people took in turns to be interviewed about how they needed to be treated to feel motivated. Soon people were coaching each other on what to say or do to get it right for each other, even to role playing situations with their customers.
Treat others as they need to be treated
How do we manage our differences so that everybody benefits?
Get answers in the following 5 min. video: