Why Can't Everyone Just Get Along?
Managing Miscommunication Within Your Team
Ever had this type of morning? You’ve got a million things on your plate. People keep lining up at your office door. And then suddenly chaos breaks out in your workplace. You rush out of your office to see what’s going on and there in front of your eyes you see two of your employees standing toe-to-toe trading insults.
Holy Moly – what do you do now?
As a result, ignorant or insensitive statements, conflicts and even allegations of harassment, bullying, and discrimination can all too often surface in workplace. As the manager, your job is to enforce the culture of the organization and ensure employees play nice together. But too often managers are met with cries of “but that’s not what I meant,” or “she’s so sensitive.”
In some cases, it truly is an innocent a statement that may have gotten spun out of control. It creates tension and that tension left unchecked can and will create a toxic environment where tempers flare and harsh words fly.
To keep this from happening, smart managers take immediate action. Here’s a couple of steps we suggest to manage these types of situations:
Communicate to all parties the professional behavior that is expected.
Listen to all sides of the issue to determine the original intent of the speaker and the perception of the recipient.
Spend time helping your employees to learn how to better communicate and to understand why their communication failed.
Help your employees to gain a better understanding of how even the mildest, and even seemingly benign comments may be offensive. Encourage them to take time to think before speaking or responding.
Hold everyone accountable when they step outside the expectations.
Always lead by example. Your behavior as a leader / manager is to model the behavior expected. Practice what you preach.
Developing behavior expectations is part of creating a company culture that respects each other. When a dysfunctional team is left to learn to communicate on their own, chaos will most definitely ensue.
How can you work on creating a team that communicates with empathy? We do it with our clients through the Color Code Program.
Color Code Team Culture Workshops
People and just life in general can be puzzling. But above all, your relationships – personal, professional, and social - can be the most puzzling.
Let's face it: All life is about making relationships work. And once you unlock the secrets of your unique strengths you’ll be able to turn any relationship a congenial adventure.
Your team culture is no different and the Color Code Team Culture Workshop shows your team how to understand the motive behind the action. That’s what makes this assessment far more insightful than Myers-Briggs, DiSC, and many other online personality tests.
And we show you how to use this new wisdom in the workplace!
When we pull a team together to share the Color Code process we see dysfunctional teams start to mold together. When you have the ability to better understand that teammate you just can’t seem to get through to…it all starts to click. It becomes a challenge to better communicate with each other.
The Color Code Team Culture Workshop is the ultimate team building experience – if you’re interested in learning more reach out to Elizabeth and let her know what you need!