How comfortable are you about being honest? And equally important, how comfortable are they with your candor?
So last month, we had our 2nd offsite. But the people in our team this time around have not been with us on the first. We’ve been working together for almost a year and this was our first face to face meeting.
During meal times, we shared stories. This was not planned at all. But it just so happened that we all enjoyed getting to know more about each other. We learned a lot about each other’s backgrounds, hardships, wit, and humor. We enjoyed listening to each other and sharing bits and pieces of our lives that our mealtimes usually last up to 5 hours.
At one point, we touched on the subject of first impressions when we hired them. We told them how Michee and I liked Jules a lot because she was just cool during the interview. Our newest member, Vince, we went back and forth. The house was split. I wanted to hire Vince but Michee wanted to hire the other candidate. We even did a toss coin to break the tie. (No, we did not make our decision based on a coin toss) But Vince won out in the end because I felt the sincerity in his answers.
I candidly told one of our team members, Cian, how I did not want to hire her because she was too perky for my liking. But Michee insisted that she sees something in her. She shared the time she almost quit because she was feeling pressured and frustrated.
We laughed things off.
There was a time when some of the INAM varmy were so scared of me. But now, they’ve figured out that I am not so scary after all and they’ve realized that when we give them feedback and criticisms, we don’t mean to put them down. That we only want them to do better and be better.
I told them upfront how I have difficulties working with other people but I’m working on it. I shared how Michee would push me to give praises when they did a good job. I am not used to it. I explained my side of this story. That with or without my validation, the truth remains that they did a great job. And I believe that should be enough.
But as Michee explained, most people thrive when you praise them when they do excellent work. And I saw their heads bobbing. So, yes, I’ll make the extra effort to acknowledge their excellent work more often.
Being honest and open made our team’s bond stronger. And I think, honesty is so crucial in making a team work really well.
