Lack of Self Awareness
You’ve heard it said a million times: “if you don’t understand yourself, you can’t understand others”. Understanding how you respond to situations, your stressors and how you contribute to a team are linked to productive interactions.

People without a strong, realistic sense of self tend to be judgmental, critical, and possibly even distrustful of their teammates. It is difficult for them to celebrate the victories of others because they doubtful of their own strengths and assets. Our True Colors module affirms the strengths of each participant and empowers them to work cooperatively with others.

The Golden Rule
The “Golden Rule” is timeless. We all should treat people the way we want to be treated and vice versa. However, we have to do so within a proper context. Let's be clear: everyone wants respect, understanding and patience. No doubt about it.

Now, here’s where the tide changes.

While we embrace the “Golden Rule”, remember that everyone views the world through a different lens than you. As a result, we cannot assume that because we define “order” one particular way, that everyone will define it the same way. As you know, organization to you might be something completely different to someone else. For example, Lisa your colleague keeps her desk a terrible "mess" (in your opinion). But you are amazed that at any given moment she can find anything she needs to access. Lisa defines organization and order completely differently than you do. But it's order to her nonetheless.

In truth, we don’t exactly want to treat others the way we like to be treated.

Work In the N.O.W.
It happens in many work groups. I call it the “utopia connection”. At some point, a group “norms and storms” to a place where everyone may interact very well with one another.

Then it happens.

A new person enters the team and the dynamic shifts, interactions become strained and the "utopia" team is in stress.

It is important for team members adapt to changes and accept new group dynamics. Orient the new team members into the work culture respectfully and patiently. Merge the old and new. Change in a team is inevitable. Don’t let it be a barrier to your team’s effectiveness.