Our momentum as a TEAM is starting to surge as we are realizing positive results. Over the Summer working with other Morrison TEAMS within the region has been a great experience and we are truly fortunate to have a support system of managers to pull talent from. As the process of account support continues we will expect only 100% reciprocating efforts to assist other Region accounts when asked.
“The nice thing about TEAMWORK is that you always have others on your side”.
Margaret Carty
TEAMWORK AND PERCEPTIONS
I would like to share a recent experience I had within our region during one of my account visits. I am sharing this as an example of how negativity has many moving parts as it relates to building positive TEAMWORK.
Recently we had a long term client retire from a long term piece of business. The replacement Executive Director began approximately 6 weeks ago and has a very different style of TEAM management. In fact, the new Executive Director really has never had a meeting with his TEAM as a group to date. This has caused quite a bit of dissention among the ranks which has effected morale in the community to drop significantly. Occupancy in the community has also dropped. While I was in a meeting with our DDS at the community a department head inside of our web of influence stopped into the office and openly started to speak negatively about the new client. I was not surprised at the content of the conversation but I was concerned of the perception that could come from this with both the DDS and myself hearing this person vent. About an hour later, another department head also inside of our web of influence came into the Dining Services office and asked if we had a minute and also started to speak negatively about the new Executive Director. Experiencing this type of inter-department dialogue first hand led me to define it as a classic tale of the “who’s running the building” through negativity.
Sharing this experience with each of you is to alert all of us on the Morrison TEAM who support our Communities, not to fall victim to negative comments related to “change”. While we are considered part of the communities TEAM, we are really guests in the Residents home and the clients community. We must never allow outside influences to perceive that we also support their feelings of negativity resulting from change.
We need to be cognizant of our interaction with all departments and work only to be professional at all times. Working as closely as we do with others in the building creates true respect and a strong business comradery. In life we can’t help that when working closely with others in a different department a friendship of sorts could develop over time. The issue with inter-department friendships is that they can create obstacles for each of us. We are truly a “contractor, partner and vendor” when it is all said and done. All is good when things are good, but when things go bad, or we dis-agree or give opinions of a situation similar to the one detailed above, we can get pulled into the “drama” of others discontent. Relationship boundaries with other departments should be established. Making sure that adopting and practicing a “less is more“ philosophy related to communication is practiced daily.
As professionals it is important that we “walk the walk” each day and truly avoid the “talk the talk” negative routines of others. It is also important that as professionals we share this message with our hourly TEAMs as many of our staff are entering the workforce for the first time and may not be aware of what “perceptions” may lurk around them.
Understanding this will only work to create improved engagement and a true TEAM WORK environment.
“Finding good players is easy. Managing them and getting them to play as team is another story”.
Casey Stengel
Does negative morale from other departments exist in your community? If so, stand clear and remain FOCUSED on Owning Your Business.