This article will address the issue of communication as the foundation for teamwork. Likewise, some advice given by experts regarding teamwork will be observed. The foundation of this writing is Peter Senge's book "The Fifth Discipline".
The ability to manage work teams is recognized by those who understand and adequately manage the art of getting along with everyone. In other words, those who are capable of working as a team understand the richness of establishing adequate human relationships in the different fields of life. For this reason, this paper aims to give the reader information about the how, why and why of learning assertive communication, a skill that involves knowing how to dialogue and discuss.
In order to communicate effectively, it is necessary to learn to listen to others from their reality and not from ours. For this, we need to develop critical thinking that will become the tool to be able to understand the message that others want to transmit taking into account who they are and thus be able to analyze and evaluate what has been said with a broader perspective.
Dialogue is the action of conversing with others in order to exchange ideas that produce benefits of various kinds. Dialogue implies discussion, because through the exposition of ideas the reason for them is solidly argued. It is debated with the purpose of understanding the position of others and that of oneself through listening in order to broaden the vision by listening to the messages of others, who are a source of wealth when learning to listen and debate in order to reach agreements that benefit everyone.
People who know how to work as a team are people interested in knowing the arguments of others and recognize the value of discussing different ideas that produce benefits and do not strive to impose their ideas but enrich them through the contributions of all team members and recognize when someone contributes winning ideas.
Organizations today require people capable of healthy relationships with others. It is important to understand that healthy human relationships are those where there is dialogue and discussion from the perspective that we are mentioning in this writing. In other words, people who recognize that the important thing is not to impose, but to understand and reach agreements.
Those who learn to work in teams do not participate in vain conversations that do not lead to any positive action for "team members." Therefore, their attitude shows that they value humility as the quality necessary to converse both in convergence and in divergence.
The true apprentices of teamwork are those who put into practice dialogue and discussion in order to empower themselves through the intervention of others, therefore, true teamwork involves uniting knowledge, skills and values of the members in favor of all of them and with this, each individual learns from the other and with the other to correct mistakes, enhance weaknesses and discover strengths that lead to the growth of the team.
Learning the discipline of teamwork implies for each person having the availability to transform the bonds of competition by bonds of cooperation that intensify in people values such as solidarity, companionship, reflection, availability, kindness, but all of them they require humility first. At this point we clarify that values do not serve as a word but in action, therefore, those who know how to work as a team demonstrate it through their behavior.
Having a common direction becomes an indispensable condition for teamwork. Those who know where they are going and what they want to achieve are in a position to harmonize energies and avoid wasting them. To do this, they require dialogue and discussion that allows the exchange of ideas about possible actions that lead to the achievement of the objectives set. By starting the dialogue, we are in a position to align ourselves as a team and develop the capacity to create the desired results collectively by generating in the members a shared vision emanating from the conviction that the conversation produces.
Diane Ryan, in her book "6 Questions to Help You Build Trust on Your Team", mentions that trust is key to the effectiveness of a team and it is cultivated among team members by showing them that they are believed to be competent and that they are the height of the work to be done and the contributions they make are valued. What can be noticed in this idea is that conversation is the necessary means to build trust which is bilateral and the sooner it is transmitted through assertive communication, the sooner it will be observed how it grows among employees.
We start from the premise that thought is a social construction that is enriched and empowered as people learn to dialogue. Sharing theoretical knowledge as well as those emanating from experiences allows people who have learned to communicate to understand problems and thereby seek the best solutions collectively.
At this point it is important to clarify that thought is a systematic phenomenon that arises from our way of interacting and exchanging discourses, therefore, it is important for those who wish to learn to work as a team to act in such a way that it generates in other cooperative actions that result in personal and collective growth. According to the ideas in this paragraph, let us ask ourselves, is it that the way of acting selfish on the part of most people hinders the learning of dialogue and discussion?
Julie Gilbert mentions the following in her book "Need growth ideas?" It is difficult to grow companies in this difficult economic situation, but it is absolutely essential to survive. He recommends looking for growth ideas in an often overlooked source of innovation - ask people. You need to start by designing a vision of where you want the organization to go. Then, list the company's assets, map its capabilities, and identify new trends in the market. By asking employees, you will not only exploit an easily affordable source of ideas, but also ensure that your people are committed to the future of the company.
Here are 4 techniques that will allow you to develop the ability to listen and dialogue:
- Verify: «You allow me to repeat what you said to make sure I understood you» Clarify: «It seems to me that this is what you mean…» Show support: «I am listening, please continue» Structure: «What do you think if we see the symptoms, we try to define the problem and then discuss possible solutions "
In this regard, John Baldoni in his book "Never let your ego stop you from learning" recommends that we do not allow our ego to interfere with our desire to learn. Successful leaders keep their minds open to new things because they know that no matter how high their mastery is, there is always something else to discover. It tells us that when we face challenges, even those we have faced many times, take the learner's approach: ask questions or find new ways to solve the problem.
Learning to communicate leads to learning more about ourselves as it allows us to recognize the nature of our thoughts as we exchange ideas with others. The basic conditions for dialogue are:
- Be aware of our ideas, opinions, prejudices, needs and motives in order to submit them to the group's examination of them; that is, we should not adopt rigid and non-negotiable thoughts that make us feel compelled to defend them. Consciously consider others as colleagues in order to establish equal ties that allow the flow of ideas. This type of relationship does not imply that the same thoughts must be agreed or shared, on the contrary, the power of this way of interacting operates when there are differences in concepts. Therefore it is essential to learn to visualize "adversaries" as "colleagues with other perspectives",in order to exchange ways of thinking in a relaxed and respectful way that helps us to leave behind the feelings of anger that commonly occur when people do not have the discipline to keep an open mind and believe that there is no other way to capture the world outside of what they perceive. Establish symmetrical relationships where the idea of superiority and / or subordination is avoided. Relationships where individuals perceive themselves as equals allow the flow of ways of thinking to be carried out through open dialogue and in a more balanced way. It is necessary at the beginning of the formation of a learning team that there is an arbitrator who « preserve the context of the dialogue ».
The functions to be performed by said arbitrator are:
- Help, invite and encourage team members to be part of the process and results. Keep the dialogue going and in balance. Balance between your expertise and your helpful attitude, but without taking on the role of 'expert' or ' doctor ”, which would remove the emphasis from the ideas and responsibility of the other team members. Understand that the art of dialogue is to experience the flow of meaning and to see what is necessary now. defensive »; that is to say, to avoid that the members of the team assume roles that obstruct the harmonic flow, such as: "Victim", "know-it-all", "non-purposive critic", "I cannot", "the indifferent", "the fool".
In this regard, John Maeda in his book "Critique me, please" mentions that in the business world, unlike the world of the arts, criticism is often perceived negatively. But constructive criticism is essential in any area that requires creativity, innovation, and problem solving.
Because leadership requires all three, leaders must be sure that they are not only open to criticism, but actively seeking it. She recommends that leaders ask their subordinates, their peers, and their clients to point out to them the weaknesses of their ideas and approaches. He believes that criticism can be a useful method of testing ideas and making sure that people and teams take responsibility for their successes and mistakes.
The development of abilities and skills for reflection, collaboration and inquiry will be the foundation for developing communication skills that will allow you to overcome situations such as personal sympathies or antipathies that lead to truncating the flow of ideas. For all the above, we conclude that the group learning process consists of a continuous sway between practice and performance, where team members learn to become aware of their own performance.
This will allow us to form mature teams, capable of investigating and analyzing complex and conflictive issues that give them the possibility of continual growth through learning to reflect-act simultaneously.
