I’m starting with the man in the mirror…I’m asking him to change his ways…And no message could have been any clearer…If you want to make the world a better place…Take a look at yourself, and then make a change….
“Man in the Mirror”—this may very well be the most profound song, Michael Jackson ever sang. Although he didn’t write it, you can tell that he really took it to heart.
And so should we all. If we want to make a difference in the world—even small ones in our own spheres of influence—the changes have to start with ourselves. So if you want to know how to build a family team culture, start by looking in the mirror.
How to build a family team culture? Own it!
This idea may put not appeal to you right away, because after all, who wants coworkers getting close enough to know your private affairs, right? Well, the thing is that we spend more time with our colleagues than our relatives, so in a way, our colleagues are our family—so why not make it a happy family instead of a dysfunctional one?
How to build a family team culture? Know thyself!
Who are you? What do you care about? Are you too busy to even notice? Does your lifestyle or work-life balance reflect your core values? How can you incorporate your passions into your daily work routine? And if you can’t, how can you find another outlet for the fulfillment you most desire?
What are your strengths? A lack of self-awareness may make you oblivious to just how awesome you really are. Are you taking yourself for granted? And if so, is this a by-product of low self-esteem? This may be because so many people in our lives from our parents and teachers to our employers hone in on our weaknesses. Get to know your strengths and use them or you might lose them.
And don’t become so fixated on your weaknesses that you become self-conscious. Self-consciousness is not the same thing as self-awareness. Personal initiative grows out of a positive self-image and that begins with an awareness of what you’ve got going for yourself and what you need to improve.
How to build a family team culture? Self- acceptance
As you strive to become more self-aware, make self-acceptance a goal as well. Seek to become more compassionate with yourself first and you’ll find it easier to accept others—warts and all.
According to Positivepsychology.com: “…self-compassion involves treating yourself with care and concern when considering personal inadequacies, mistakes, failures, and painful life situations. It comprises three interacting components: self-kindness versus self-judgment, a sense of common humanity versus isolation, and mindfulness versus over-identification….”
In other words–give yourself a break!
Your weaknesses and imperfections are not legitimate excuses for incompetence or insubordination. But neither do they make abuse of any kind acceptable responses when you make mistakes—and by abuse, I mean by yourself or anyone else. You’re nobody’s doormat or kicking post—not even your own.
Persecuting yourself for losing face with your colleagues will make it harder for you to fix what you broke because you’re spending so much time beating yourself up. You can’t successfully mend broken fences when you’re broken yourself.
And it’s impossible to be optimistic about your future with the company when you’re constantly looking back at your past mistakes. While a project at work has to be perfect, you don’t always have to be perfect! And that’s ok because no one is perfect—not all the time; not even most of the time.
How to build a family team culture? Discover DiSC!
DiSC can help you identify the negative self-talk swirling around in your head like a broken record and replace it with positivity and encouragement. DiSC stands for Dominant, Influential, Steadiness, and Conscientious—4 personality types we all share. An understanding of your own personality profile will make it easier to understand and accept yourself as well as others.
And this applies to everyone—high and low! Surprisingly—or perhaps not—the higher up the food chain you go, the less self-aware you become. According to Trainingmag.com, a recent study showed that these titans of industry place more value on their professional skills than on “emotional self-awareness, accurate self-assessment, empathy, trustworthiness, and leadership performance.”
In a way this makes sense. I mean who’s got the guts to speak truth to power directly to the power-broker himself? Besides, these people are often lonely at the top because they don’t trust their colleagues enough to seek honest feedback about their leadership styles or personality quirks.
DiSC personality profile training is a safe wake up call for executives whose eyes are always on the “prize” of bigger profits. It will reveal how they, too, can make the company more prosperous by becoming better leaders which means becoming better people.