Happy Healthy You
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Kelly Spencer - Happy Healthy YOU
(A wellness column by Kelly Spencer: writer, life coach, yoga & meditation teacher, holistic healer and a mindful life enthusiast!)
Arriving home yesterday after a second weekend in Niagara Falls for the Slo-pitch Provincials, I was feeling grateful for my ball team.
We have been playing together for many years. We seemed to have ironed out any creases. We get along well and we play like a team. When someone is off, we pick them up. When someone is up, we praise them. We have a very positive attitude and in fact, don’t allow negativity to linger too long. The great part is that while we are all getting older, somehow we are getting better!
This got me contemplating teamwork. What makes a team tick?
Teamwork can come in all shapes and sizes: work teams, clubs, sports, hobbies, groups, friends and family. The act of teamwork can be described as a process of working collaboratively within a group of people for the purpose of achieving a certain goal. This could include a successful business project, winning a game of bridge with your partner or just having a cohesive and happy home and family life.
So why are some teams more successful that others?
Attitude is everything, I believe. When the team is positive and cooperative with like goals it makes achievement actualize more easily. On the contrary, when there is a “bad egg” with a negative or complaining ongoing state of discontent, it can throw a wrench in the whole system.
A salon in Houston, Texas had a staff room which the owner called the “den of inequity – a spot where they gather and complain, complain, complain.” The salon owner took on a project to change the way their team worked and how the business was functioning. The owner painted on the staff room wall “Complaint Free World” and gave them each a bracelet with the same title. Each time they complained they had to switch the bracelet to the other wrist. At first it started as fun, but by the second week of the project, three people quit the salon, mad at the owner. As it turned out, they were the folks that were always complaining. Since then, the customers are telling the owner how much the energy of the salon has changed and how enjoyable the business is now. The business is more productive, lucrative and the people, staff and customers are happier. (For more on complaint free world, go to www.acomplaintfreeworld.org)
Get on the same page
Make sure your ideas, plans and goals are in the same league. Your 'team’s' goals (business, play or family) work well when they are totally clear, completely understood and accepted by everyone. Pete Carroll, head coach of the 2013 Super Bowl winning Seattle Seahawks encouraged his entire team to meditate. One of the objectives of exposing his athletes to meditation has to do with its proven ability of mediation to increase happiness, decrease stress and to visualize their goals by getting “into the zone.”
Communicating clearly your thoughts and ideas while listening attentively and making a conscious effort to really 'hear' what is being said instead of simply responding makes collaboration more effortless. Creating a means of communicating that allows for easy flow, non-judgmental listening and includes all team members, keeping everyone on the same page enables team members to focus and flourish.
My son Liam is an active student council member and has played competitive sports most his life and is currently a football team captain. I asked him what he feels makes a team operate optimally.
“As cliché as it sounds, you have to try your best while always doing what is in the best interest of the team,” he said, adding, “I think knowing people on a personal level helps to create respect and trust, which are key.”
Author Jon Gordon says, “You can’t have a strong team without strong relationships. And you can’t have strong relationships without trust. Great team members trust their teammates and most of all their team members trust them. Trust is earned through integrity, consistency, honesty, transparency, vulnerability and dependability. If you can’t be trusted you can’t be a great team member. Trust is everything.”
My father taught me years ago, while he was president at the Tillsonburg District Memorial Hospital, that the people that work at the hospital weren’t 'staff' but they were all team members. He would tell me that without each team member doing their specific role, the team just didn’t run. Educating me at a young age that all team members despite position or wage, not just deserved respect but required respect for what they do.
And while the saying that there is no ‘I’ in team is true, a team is full of individuals. Each individual has unique knowledge, talents and skills. Getting to know each other on a deeper level of understanding will help determine how you work best together as well as develop a strong sense of self, within the team unit.
So whether your 'team' is your bridge partner, your football team, your club or your family, here are some tips on how you can become a better team player.
1. Be the change. Set the example that you want. Focus on being your best and raise the bar.
2. Use your strengths. Each team player has a respectful and important role. What is yours?
3. Positive Energy. Emotion is contagious. What energy do you add to the 'team'?
4. Team first. Good team players have the motto “whatever is best for the 'team.'"
5. Accountability. When we fall short or make mistakes, we all have to be held accountable. Own it and learn.
6. Modesty. There is always room for growth and expansion.
What kind of team player are you? And are your 'teams' functioning optimally?
(If you would like to see an article on a specific topic, please email kelly@indigolounge.ca)