With slogans like “winning with people”; “our work force our family”; “people our biggest asset” and “prevent injuries – we care” are greeting you when you enter the head quarters of trend setting corporations, one cannot deny that relationship management is high on the score card.
Nowadays nobody questions the value of sound relationships @ work. With the support-industry cashing in on this evolving market clients are confused with service offerings which involve coaching, mentoring and team building to name but a few. Executives with effective soft skills will manage relationships through difficult times and will contribute to soaring productivity and retain talent. This suggests that leaders with the “soft” know-how will contribute to organisational stability and growth. Gottman (2008:46) suggests that there is a strong relationship between work relationships and one’s relationships at home. An abusive person at home will most likely display the same kind of behaviour at work. Research conducted by Gottman (2008) suggests that in a marriage where a husband is not willing to share power with his wife, there is an 81% chance that it will end up in a divorce. This suggests that autocratic practices are doomed to fail.
Some hints to consider:
• Successful relationships accentuate the positive – try to say “yes” as often as possible. Relationships deteriorate • because of the way in which we reason - seek to understand;
• Do not be afraid to address a difference in opinion – embrace this, but work it through;
• Good relationships are characterised by moments of attachment (vulnerability and intimacy) Do not
• misunderstand what is meant by “intimacy”. This “moment” of intimacy can be characterised by a higher level of
• connectivity between two people. When values like respect, integrity and openness are shared by both individuals,
• one should never avoid these moments. If you do however feel uncomfortable, check your values!
• Trivial moments filled with fun and laughter provides opportunities for profound connection (Gottman: 2007). E.g. • “Giving a little child a bath and he splashes” :
• If you are impatient and short tempered you will miss an opportunity to meet the child in his world and on his • terms;
• If you splash back and clean up later you will have shared “intimacy” by connecting at a different level.
• Intimacy is the social glue which holds teams together by creating moments of truth between colleagues
• (medium: team building).
• Spread moments of intimacy equally between all your colleagues. This powerful moment becomes distorted when • other team members do not share in the same level of openness. Those members will start to compete for your • attention, if unsuccessful; eventually loose interest. Those members who are excluded will group together and
• they will jokingly gossip about this “unhealthy or romantic relationship.
The importance of sound relationships @ work will be realised as Human Resources move higher up the priority list of skills required for successful business leaders.
How do you select a team building intervention for the team building specialists? That is the question we were faced with when we planned TBI’s Team Growth strategy for January 2008.
The philosopher Ernest Hemmingway said: “If you want people to see things differently, take them to a place they have never been before”. That is exactly what we did.
The result of our Phase 1 intervention was a 3-day sailing experience in Durban. Most of the TBI-team members have never been on a yacht before. Sailing provides a team with different challenges including; teamwork, making knots, GPS reading, rigging the yacht, basic yacht maintenance and just being out on the ocean, etc.
If we had to relate sailing to our whole brain thinking style model we would say that all the quadrants are covered in the experience.
The philosopher Ernest Hemmingway said: “If you want people to see things differently, take them to a place they have never been before”. That is exactly what we did.
The result of our Phase 1 intervention was a 3-day sailing experience in Durban. Most of the TBI-team members have never been on a yacht before. Sailing provides a team with different challenges including; teamwork, making knots, GPS reading, rigging the yacht, basic yacht maintenance and just being out on the ocean, etc.
If we had to relate sailing to our whole brain thinking style model we would say that all the quadrants are covered in the experience.
Some of the benefits the team experienced were:
• Excitement
• Teamwork
• Informal competition
• Stress reduction (for some)
• Acceptance
• Respect
• Humour
• Increased team awareness
• Understanding
• Fun
• To name just a few.
Sailing is a tool TBI plans to include as another phase in our Team Growth strategy. We would like to thank the two instructors Gareth 1 and Gareth 2 for an amazing and unforgettable experience.
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Thanks to Karl Rohnke and his book Funn ‘n Games we finally got the courage to test his AC/DC activity. It has happened so many times before when a participant (heavier than the belayer); falls from a high element. The belayer’s weight ratio to that of the participant yanks the belayer of his/her feet and he is pulled up into the air only to be secured by the back-up.
Although this is not brain surgery, the law of equilibrium states that if both participants weigh the same they will be in balance hanging in mid-air. However, if one party is heavier than the other, the heavier person will be pulled down by gravity and the lighter one will accelerate into the air. This is exactly what the AC/DC (Ascend/Descend) activity is all about.
Two participants are attached to one rope. The rope runs through two pulleys attached to the belay cable. The heavier participant climbs the pole to the platform, while the lighter one remains on the ground. The top participant jumps from the platform launching the other participant into the air.
This activity provides two completely different experiences; having the courage to jump and being launched into the air.
The first AC/DC activity was constructed at the TBI Island of Healing Pretoria.
Although this is not brain surgery, the law of equilibrium states that if both participants weigh the same they will be in balance hanging in mid-air. However, if one party is heavier than the other, the heavier person will be pulled down by gravity and the lighter one will accelerate into the air. This is exactly what the AC/DC (Ascend/Descend) activity is all about.
Two participants are attached to one rope. The rope runs through two pulleys attached to the belay cable. The heavier participant climbs the pole to the platform, while the lighter one remains on the ground. The top participant jumps from the platform launching the other participant into the air.
This activity provides two completely different experiences; having the courage to jump and being launched into the air.
The first AC/DC activity was constructed at the TBI Island of Healing Pretoria.
