11 Ways to Be A Dream Team Mate and Not a “Work Jerk!”
No one likes to work with a jerk. That’s why Red Door Interactive, based in San Diego, California, has created a “100% Jerk Free” workplace. But why not set the bar a little higher? Of course we shouldn’t be jerks, but why not aim to create the kind of inspiring workplace culture where people bring the best versions of themselves to work every day. Where everyone treats each other with respect and kindness. Where everyone treats their teammates the way they would their best customers! Where everyone aspires to be a dream teammate in order to create a dream team in order to build a rocking, passionate, fun workplace culture!
11 Ways to Be a Dream Team Mate
11 Ways to Be a Great Team Player (Transcript)
1. Be sweet. Studies, several studies in fact suggest that having candies available in your office or on your desk makes you more likable, more attractive and as a side benefit, you tend to hear more news about what’s going on in your workplace.
2. Be smart with your email communication. Everybody is being driven nuts these days by inefficient use of email, do don’t be that person. Don’t be that person who forwards rude email jokes. Don’t be that person who sends emails that are 18 pages long, that really should probably be a thesis dissertation. Don’t be that person who uses email inefficiently. Be effective, be smart with your email.
3. Change your voicemail everyday to let people know your whereabouts. It’s a simple thing to do. It takes what, 10 seconds, but it’s efficient, it’s professional and make it fun so people actually want to talk to you and leave a message with you. Make it upbeat, add some energy to your voice so it makes it sound like you actually want to be there and your happy in your work and you want to talk to your colleagues. Let people know, for example what wacky theme day it is. Maybe it’s talk like a pirate day, let people know.
4. Ask your colleagues, ask your boss, ask your employees for input. It’s one of the simplest ways to convey the message that you recognize your colleagues for their wisdom. That you respect their wisdom, their experience, their intellect. It’s one of the most motivating things you can do and studies suggest that people who tend to ask for a lot of input, not only tend to be more creative and innovative, they also tend to get promoted more often and are respected and liked more by their peers.
5. It’s a simple one, but treat your colleagues the way you treat your customers and always ask them “Is there anything more I can do to be of service to you?”.
6. Remember to say thank you. Keep a box of thank you cards handy so that you can write a simple thank you note to your colleagues. It will make such an impact in this day and age of electronic communication to to receive a hand written thank you note from you.
Inspiring workplace cultures start with inspiring teams, and inspiring teamwork.
7. Don’t be a jerk. It’s pretty simple, mind the basics. There’s all sorts of studies that suggest rudeness is on the rise in the workplace. Say please, say thank you, be considerate, hold doors open. It’s not rocket science.
8. Smile more often. Tell your face that your happy to be there. Let other people know that your happy to be there and your happy to see them and to engage with them. Now don’t smile in a creepy, frozen smile joker-esque kind of way, but smile in a genuine, warm way. It’s important. Smiling triggers neurons in other people’s brains that will help them like you even more than they do now.
9. Look for opportunities just like you would with your customers, to go the extra inch and go the extra mile. In other words, look for opportunities to do those simple, small things, those extra inch things that will make a difference in their lives, but also then look for those opportunities where you can hit it out of the ballpark. When you can do something incredibly powerful and heroic and special that is going to help out a colleague in need.
10. Practice premeditated acts of kindness. Being kind at work is way too important to leave to random chance, so forget about random acts of kindness, how about planned, premeditated acts of kindness that are going to make a difference to your culutre…that is going to make a difference to your colleagues?
11. Steal a page from the world of theater improv, where one of their guiding principles is, “How can I make the rest of my team shine> How can I make the rest of my team look good?” Imagine the change in your workplace culture if everyone embraced that mindset?
Ways to become a dream team mate – the kind of team mate everyone wants to work with!
Michael Kerr, May 2018. Michael Kerr is an international business speaker, business trainer, and the author of The Humor Advantage – Why Some Businesses Are Laughing All the Way to the Bank.
