Building complementary teams at work

I recently had the privilege to co-facilitate an MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) assessment interpretation for some colleagues. The goal of this session was for my colleagues to learn how they could effectively work together, and to understand some potential pitfalls. Being someone who values both efficiency and harmony, I loved co-facilitating this discussion. Most of us do not have the luxury of being in an environment where things like work style are discussed. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t try a different approach when we clash with someone at work.teamwork

We are all different, and it is rare that two people will do the same job exactly the same way. It is common for us to believe that our own way is the “right” way. This can be a mistake. The next time you are working with someone who is approaching a task differently than you, try to take a step back and look at their way more objectively. What is working? What is not working? Are there things this person is doing that might actually make things more efficient or better?

Some, though not all, of us work on teams where tasks can be divided on a project-basis. If this is the case, relying on a teammate’s strength in a given area, and your own strengths in other areas, may make the project more successful. Some people are great at synthesizing large chunks of information at a high level. Others do much better with details and minutiae. Each is important. Relying on someone’s strengths as opposed to just dividing the work equally can go a long way towards stronger outcomes.

I once had a co-worker who was incredibly detail-oriented. This was a fabulous trait when it came to verifying the accuracy of data, or writing procedure manuals. It was a less-than-ideal trait when it came to training other employees, because he wanted people to do everything EXACTLY as he did… down to the way he composed e-mails. I wished at the time that he had the ability to take a step back and recognize that his was not the ONLY way to do things. I remind myself of this situation now when I find myself focusing on the differences between a co-worker’s ways of doing things and my own. Being open to different ways is the only way to learn. However, this is an easy lesson to forget. Thanks for reading!

Annette Parisi