Unfortunately, newborn children and team members don’t come with a set of instructions. But here’s your chance to write your own “user’s manual.” Creating your own set of instructions for yourself can be a great way to build stronger relationships in your organization. It’s a technique we use at Performance Strategies Groupin which two or more people jot complete a series of sentences to identify ways to better coach and be coached, allowing team members to create a common baseline for behavioral and cultural dialogue.
This tool may be particularly useful to do so when new team members join an organization, enabling the parties participating in the exercise to accelerate an understanding about what is important to each of them. Often, we employ this exercise to compliment our use of several behavioral profiles we use in leadership and teambuilding exercises and become the foundation for creating a coaching culture. With that understanding, please complete the following sentences with the realization there may be one or more ideas that come to mind. Try to identify the two or three things that are most important to you, rather than list all your possible responses.
- If you want to motivate or energize me, you should…
- If you want to frustrate or demotivate me, you should…
- I give you permission to….
- If I have done something well please…
- If my productivity, accuracy, or some other performance measure by which I am gaged falls short, you should…
- I would prefer…
- I like a work environment in which….
- It is difficult for me to…
- It is really important for me to…
- Conflict is…
- As I understand them my primary responsibilities by which my performance will be measured includes…
- I need help when…
- I get upset when…
- I am the kind of employee/manager who values…
- I think our organizational culture values…
- When I am under stress I tend to…
- I feel devalued when…
- I feel valued when…
- When our organization is undergoing change in policies, people, or processes, I would appreciate
- I am not sure who is responsible for…
- I am at my best when…
Keep in mind this is only a brief list of statements, not a comprehensive one. When discussing your responses with someone else in your organization, you will likely find yourself adding to the list. You should feel free to do so and revisit this dialogue regularly.
If you’d like more information about how Performance Strategies Group can help you and your organization improve your communication, sales and leadership skills, or with our strategic planning process, contact principal consultant, Jim Owens at jim@psghsv.com
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