So for a completely untechnology related post, I thought I would pass along here, and it’s just some general tips to live by. Let’s face it the nature of work has changed a lot for everyone. Most of us are busier than we’ve ever been. Things are downright crazy for a lot of us, and people are working together to do more, and accomplish more with less.
To that end, I’ve picked up a couple of tips to help make sure that you build out the reservoir of good will to work with people in a corporate setting, and it boils down to a few small gestures. That can really help to encourage partnership and growth with others. These are practices that I do and lean on heavily and I find they help me and others so I wanted to share them.
Visibility Matters to everyone
The old adage is “No man is an island,” and that more true now than ever, odds are if you are working on something, you are working with a team.
If you read any books on leadership, one of the first things you will see common to all of them is that individual accomplishment is the last thing you should focus on yourself. Make sure you thinking is aligned that you succeed as a team and fail as a team. But that being said it’s important to make sure that if anyone does something exceptional, that it be noticed.
There are a couple of ways to do that.
- Make sure to give feedback: by this I mean that you should take time and tell people “good job” or “you really stepped up, thanks.” It’s important that people know their efforts are being appreciated and having impact.
- Make sure they’re manager knows: One thing I do, is keep notes on the kinds of things the team member has accomplished and send an email to their boss / manager. I know some companies have tools for this. But I find that people appreciate a good email.
I promise you that everyone who you send that email for, 3 things will happen:
- They will appreciate it.
- Their manager will appreciate it.
- You will feel better knowing you helped someone.
Timing matters
Every company I’ve ever known has performance reviews. And those times are important to everyone. It’s important the employee but it’s also important to the manager.
Do your best time find out when those times are, and send a note to their manager right before that happens. Great feedback right before a performance review helps everyone. So do the best you can to make sure it lands at the right time.
Be concise and direct
As much as you can say things like “they are a great person”. I promise you it will land better if you say “This was the problem, and here’s how Jon / Jane went out of their way to deliver.” That kind of thing makes all the difference because it is more specific.
And make sure you keep it short, most managers are busy people and only have a couple of minutes so get to the point and make your argument why this person deserves praise.
In my experience this will help you build a reservoir of good will and help those around you want to continue to work towards your team goals.
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