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I work in a
large government facility (approx. 500 employees) and would like some hints on how to
remind everyone that we are a team and are all working together for a common goal.
Hello
Hint-Maker:
How to remind everyone that we are a team??? Some workplaces have motivational posters, even super-graphics that speak loudly about "Pride In Products" and that "There Is No I In Team," etc. But such reminders are self-defeating if displayed by a boss. They say to one's subordinates "Get with it. Work harder. Cooperate! Do you hear me?!!" If the right stuff is happening, workers are already motivated.
By the right stuff, I mean the leader or co-worker who wants everyone to be on the team must conceive of her/himself as a servant. Time must be set aside for small work units to voice their quality of working life concerns and opinions about how their jobs might better meet customers' needs, and an appraisal reward system needs to be in place that is fair.
When those in charge are really present by walking around, by seeking how they might remove obstacles of subordinates doing their jobs, and by mentally being present, everyone is reminded that they are a team.
I have used a simulation that is wildly involving to illustrate what happens when work groups think they are in competition for the boss's favor or just to out-do each other. It is called "This Place Is A Zoo." Its impact is to train and motivate a workplace to work interdependently. I have found that when it is coupled with opportunity for everyone to voice what is frustrating him/her from doing high performance work that it does more than hint that everyone is on the same team.
I recommend a systemic effort to enable and to empower. So hint-makers have a major role to play. It is they who must avoid hints that result in cynicism about mere rhetoric. It is they who must become agents and shapers of the workplace.
We must avoid sloganizing and as Guru Deming suggested we must drive out fear in the workplace.
Sincerely, WEGO does not come by motto, but by acts,
Bill Gorden, The Workplace Doctors