Happy New Year! 2021 has so much promise, it is bursting at the seams. To ensure that the full potential of 2021 is met, everyone needs to chip in and do his or her part. Here are five tips to keep your interpersonal skills (at work and at home) inspiring to your colleagues, family members, and friends. Following these tips will lead to better teamwork, engagement, and positive interactions in any environment.
- Don’t Avoid the Truth . . . Do Promote Transparency
- Don’t Create a Homogenous Environment . . . Do Value Differences
- Don’t Make Vague Generalizations . . . Do Give Specifics
- Don’t Be Socially Exclusive . . . Do Be Socially Inclusive
- Don’t Be Self-Serving . . . Do Serve Others
What Do You Gain by Avoiding These Mistakes?
- Honesty and transparency promote trust. Avoiding the truth leads to uncertainty and fear.
- Valuing differences and leveraging those differences results in better decision making. Squashing outsider opinions decreases innovation and increases the likelihood of less-than optimal decision making.
- When complimenting, generalizations like, “Good work” do not encourage specific behaviors. Similarly, criticizing in a general way does not discourage problematic behaviors. Compliment or criticize the actions that you hope to see repeated or discontinued to help others to improve performance.
- Inclusiveness at work and at home means listening to the opinions of others and creating a sense of belonging. Inclusivity breeds comradery and increased morale.
- Service to others – whether that is actualized by a sharing generous spirit or sending funds to your favorite non-profit – makes the world a better place.
Be a positive drop in the communal bucket of actions that will make 2021 overflow with growth and goodwill!
Looking for a virtual or in-person workshop that promotes trust, optimizes group decision-making, and improves your team’s performance and morale? Contact me or get a copy of FRESH Leadership: 5 Skills to Transform You and Your Team to learn more.