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Team Interdependence When We Win I Win

Written by: Dianne Crampton

Article Overview: Team Interdependence is the second of six collaborate core values that build highly effective teams. The other five are trust, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. The six collaborative values form the acronym, TIGERS. Team Interdependence is based on the concept: If we win - I win. This article delves into behaviors that build team interdependence and discusess behaviors that predictably disrupt interdependence in any group of two or more people who have come together to achieve something of value.

Team Interdependence When We Win I Win

One company hires “bodies” to fill positions vacated by disgruntled employees. If you read the Help Wanted ads, their employment ad is posted weekly.

Another company offers employment openings on rare occasions. It uses a team of employees to interview candidates after two initial screenings. The business owner wants to make sure that new employees work well with existing teams.

The second company takes the hiring process two additional steps. Team members from the employee hiring team mentor each new employee. The Mentors’ role is to make sure new employees receive superior orientation, informal 30 day performance reviews and formal 60 day performance reviews. The company credo is “WE win.” The business owner takes the necessary steps to make sure they do.

The tale of two companies illustrates the collaborative core value, Interdependence. Interdependence is based on the concept, “If we win, I win”. It
relies on behaviors anchored in sharing, openness, acceptance, support, and excellence.

Interdependence, therefore, means that two or more people appreciate and rely on each others strengths, and are mutually responsible for their own short comings. Because interdependence requires self awareness and appreciation for others, it demands high levels of emotional maturity, willingness to become more effective, commitment to excellence and self-esteem.

What behaviors damage interdependence?

• The belief that someone can change someone else
• The belief that leaders hold all the answers
• The belief that leaders must solve all the problems without input from others
• Allowing employees to blame co-workers for system problems
• Allowing employees to blame co-workers for procedural errors
• Allowing an Us and Them attitude to thrive in the workplace

Daniel Goleman writes in his newest book: Social Intelligence: The Revolutionary New Science of Human Relationships, “Our natural pull toward others may trace back to the conditions of scarcity that shaped the human brain.” When our unconscious interactions with others fall back on old survival patterns that compel us to compete against others in our own companies, nonprofit organizatiions, or families it is impossible to build interdependent relationships.

One TIGERS rule is, “It is better to compete in the market place as a solid company than devour one another with disruptive team behaviors.”

Therefore, what behaviors build interdependence?

• Win-win problem solving and the reduction in win-lose and lose-lose conflict solutions
• Apologies and forgiveness
• Team building that anchors workplace values
• Coaching and facilitative leadership styles
• Allowing workers to provide valuable input for changing ineffective work procedures that directly affect them
• Building a sense of responsibility and accountability among managers, team leaders and workers
• Building your team’s “Declaration of Interdependence” so your leaders can tend to the boundaries of collective team decisions.

The more sharply attentive we are to what our team already performs well, the easier it is to implement interdependent change. Moving your team from dependent and competitively independent “Us VS Them” behaviors to passionate “We Win” concepts harnesses your team’s human power and the opportunity to celebrate what your team already does well.

In the posting, we will explore genuineness. We will look at the impact genuineness has on team integrity and group learning.

Until then, just as the fur pattern on the face of a tiger is as unique as a human finger print, so is each team. No two are the same and collaborative core value influenced behaviors are readily discernable in how people treat one another on a daily basis.

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  The Dilemma of Perfectionism
  21 Secrets of Establishing Effective Teams

Article Tags: acronym, core values, effective teams, empathy, genuineness, interdependence, risk, team culture



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