TEN WAYS HIGHER SELF-ESTEEM FOSTERS BETTER TEAMWORK

By Steve Wilson, MA, CSP

Copyright 1997, All Rights Reserved

(Approximately 1,150 words)

Managers who desire higher performing teams would be well-advised to respect the development of every team member's self-esteem.

I work with businesses that want to make work more fun, and I work with executives who want everyone to be able to look back at their working career and say, "That was the time of my life!"

Work can't always be play but it can be more fun. Perhaps that is why just about every listing of advice for managers includes the prescription to develop a good sense of humor. "After all," one wag observed, "if you don't have a sense of humorit just isn't funny." Keep in mind that to have more fun you need to invite more than just laughter into the workplace. After all,

· If you don't have good communications, it probably isn't fun.

· If you aren't meeting your goals, it probably isn't fun.

· If you don't have good teamwork, it probably isn't fun.

· If the workplace does not encourage self-esteem, it probably isn't fun.

· If you don't have good communications, good teamwork, and high self-esteem, you probably aren't going to be making as much money as you could, and

· If you aren't making enough money, it probably isn't fun.

A Relative Term

Because it not easy to quantify, I find it useful to discuss self-esteem in the relative terms of higher and lower. Your self-esteem does not exist within you at a certain fixed amount or level for all time. In fact, your sense of self-esteem can fluctuate during the course of the day or over any period. The quantity of the particular quality or condition is relative, sometimes higher, sometimes lower.

Even if you generally experience high self-esteem, you might discover that your sense of self-esteem fluctuates but, overall, at a generally high level.

I will refer to this as "higher" self-esteem. If you generally experience very little sense of self-esteem, you may still experience variations in your self-esteem over time, with the fluctuations generally occurring at a low level overall. I will refer to this as "lower self-esteem".

Self-Esteem and Teamwork

Here are some of the key attributes of team members who have higher self-esteem. You can see that, when you experience higher levels of self-esteem you are more prone to have certain attitudes and take certain actions that are highly desirable in the teamwork environment. I have found it to be a very dependable rule-of-thumb that it is the people with higher self-esteem who are most likely to possess more of the attitudes and engage in more of the behaviors that are consistent with excellent teamwork.

1. A willingness to occasionally modify some cherished ideas. Higher self-esteem means greater flexibility of thinking and open-mindedness to new information; the ability to let go of ideas once held dear; the emotional security and integrity to be able to change your mind when better ideas come along.

2. The maturity to discuss issues without indulging in personal attack. When you experience higher self-esteem you tend to argue factual information or measurable data rather than tastes or opinions, and get your ego out of the way. You don't belittle others in order to get them to come over to your point of view.

3. The capability of seeing the picture of the whole organization at work. When your self-esteem is lower, you tend to get caught up in the minutia of your own small piece of the pie. When your self-esteem is higher, you find it easier to step back and see the big picture; you understand how the efforts of your team or department contribute to the overall goals of the organization.

4. Awareness that, however sure you are that you are right, the other person may have a good basis for her/his ideas, too. Higher self-esteem means greater comfort with the idea that there may be more than one right answer, "more than one way to skin a cat". When you experience higher self-esteem, you stand up for your values and beliefs, and you try to understand the other person's reasoning, too.

5. The largeness of heart to say so when you are proven wrong. Good teamwork means acknowledging mistakes and putting them behind you so that the work can go forward. Higher self-esteem means you do not gloss over mistakes, you admit them to your team members, feel relatively comfortable with your own imperfection. You are able to make course corrections without denials, disruptive rationalizations or excessive self-justification.

6. The grace not to crow when you are proven right. Higher self-esteem people don't feel the need to "rub it in" when they turn out to be right. Learn to enjoy quiet inner satisfaction; your teammates will truly appreciate you for it. The best results of team efforts rarely occur because one person was right and the others wrong. It is too costly to the teamwork atmosphere for you to be right at a teammate's expense. Teamwork is less ego and more we-go.

7. The generous spirit to be easy to get along with. Higher self-esteem means it is easier to be unselfish and unstinting; easier to be generous when interpreting the motives of your teammates. When you can believe that love, support and recognition are available in abundance, you won't compete with your teammates for the spotlight. Instead, you will gladly share it with them and make it a point to let it shine on them.

8. The capacity to set aside personal preferences where necessary, in the interest of teammates, the company, and the customer. When your self-esteem is higher, you find it easier to tolerate certain inconveniences, to appreciate that it is not necessary for everyone to have the same tastes, and you are able to go out of your way in the service of others.

9. A willingness to use the scientific method to search for the truth. Lower self-esteem is fearful of being wrong, and says, "I've made up my mind so don't confuse me with the facts." Higher self-esteem is curious to find the truth, and says, "How can we test this? Let's find out." Higher self-esteem means facing, not denying, the facts.

10. The capacity to understand the frustrations of others without feeling a need to retaliate. When you have higher self-esteem, you see the futility of revenge; you don't go around "making examples" of people who foul up, ortrying to "teach people a lesson". You don't let yourself get pushed around, yet you find it easier to be compassionate. You see the shortcomings of your teammates as room for improvement rather than an excuse for blowing your top.

For the sake of everyone's greatest success and satisfaction, in the interests of forming strong, high-performing teams, every team member should be encouraged to develop higher self-esteem. Imagine what your teams will be like at work when everyone sustains more of these attitudes and acts accordingly.