Team Compassion From "E"

“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” – Ryunosuke Satoro

For many years and till date there is a buzz in the air to work as a team, to get things done as a team or to make it happen as a team. Team building, teamwork or team development is talks are always in the air.

Team could be defined as an organized effort to improve team effectiveness. It is simply about creating MAGIC through trust:

• Multiply

• Affirm

• Grow

• Integrate

• Collaborate

Conflict is very common within any team. Conflict is a process that begins when one party perceives that another party has negatively affected, or is about to negatively affect something that the first party cares about. A high-performance team is able to minimise conflict by the implementation of the CIDER effect:

• Communication

• Interaction

• Development

• Empowerment

• Respect

Personality plays a great part in how you interact within a team. Your personality includes your beliefs and values thus your self-development is crucial in working as a team. The personality of you and anyone you know is based on SUE:

• Social experiences (especially from childhood).

• Unique experiences that you have had in your lifetime. 

• Environment in which you grew up, and how you had to act.

Team building, teamwork or team development you hear it everywhere yet who actually actions it. You may let your ego, status and other sabotaging acts damage the essence of teamwork. Many times during discussions, strategic meetings, emails or conversations this word is used as a rag with no respect to the true spirit of teamwork.

A number of organizations feel by doing a team building or team development workshop, problems that a team faces will be resolved. Wake up and smell the coffee, this is just the beginning. Jumping or scaling a wall could be great fun for some as a team activity, but how does this relate to the actual context of the work carried out by the team. Better still what kind of emotional state is the individual in at work?

Our emotional state stems from our personality. The real work starts with individuals improving their emotional state and this no organization can afford to ignore. No amount of theory, assessments, training or reading books will resolve the matter. It is about thinking about the problems the individual faces, taking action to resolve them and then evaluating what has been achieved. In other words think, act and achieve an emotional state that is high in positive energy.

This is where we need to give respect to Daniel Goleman, the author of Emotional Intelligence. He emphasizes the importance of the emotional state of people in all aspects of life. In other words, you could say it boils down compassion in a team. In his extensive work with His Holiness Dalai Lama, you learn how emotions can either lead to compassion, collaboration, and productivity or simply to destruction.

“In teamwork, emotional intelligence is the crucial social lubricant, providing the capacity to settle disputes well, brainstorm creatively, and work harmoniously.” – Daniel Goleman

In other words:

What are you doing to uplift the emotional state of the individuals in your team?
Is there compassion in your team building, teamwork or team development?
Is there “E” (emotions, productive emotions) in your team?