In this assignment I go over some tips for being a better teammate, including suggestions for giving and getting feedback, advice on giving apologies, and ideas for building a better culture at work.
Grade I gave myself for this assignment:
Feedback
The first tip given in the article about feedback is that you need to create psychological safety with your teammates to make the environment suitable for giving and receiving feedback. Some ways they suggest to do this is by being cognizant of diversity, by having a positive and open attitude, and by aiming to be grateful for feedback without getting defensive.
Another tip that the article gives is that you should go out of your way to ask for specific pieces of feedback. It is generally unlikely that people will give much feedback unless you ask for it. That said, it’s important to ask for feedback at suitable times; see the last paragraph of this section for more details.
Another piece of advice from the article is that you should make a point to reciprocate constructive feedback. This is something I don’t think I do super well — while I often ask for feedback, I don’t often consider feedback that I could give my teammates, much less actually give it or have it available when they ask for it.
A key suggestion from the article is that you should make a point to actually take action on feedback that you get. It’s great to be open to, and appreciative of, feedback, but actually making a change based on it concretely demonstrates to teammates how much you value it.
The article then touches on good and bad times to ask for feedback. Times they recommend as optimal include after the completion of a big project, during or soon after onboarding a team member, and at the end of a work period like a quarter or year. Situations that they recommend avoiding asking for feedback include when someone has just left the company (they want to leave on positive terms), in the middle of or immediately after a big project or stressful time, or too long after the work you’re asking about.
Apologies
Then, I read a HBR article on apologies. The author, Grenny, sums up his perspective on apologies with the following quote:
“The purpose of an apology is not to restore trust, but to confirm to others that we deserve it.”
Grenny, 2016
Grenny argues that giving an apology with the goal of mending the relationship is manipulative because it aims to glaze over any damage done. He posits that a better way to approach apologies is to aim to give others insight into your analysis of the situation and how you plan to reconcile it in order to try to earn back that trust.
Further, he recommends that when considering the goal of giving an apology you should try to avoid aiming to get a declaration of forgiveness and a restoration of trust from the person to whom you’re apologizing. Instead, he suggests that a better goal when giving an apology would be to effectively demonstrate your sense of accountability, fruits of self-reflection, and an analysis of what you could do better.
Culture
The first article that I read about company culture began by defending the importance of considering it in the first place, arguing that company culture has a direct influence on the success of the company. It impacts the people who come to and stay working at the company, it influences how and what is done, and this in turn impacts how the company fares.
The second article I read centered around the role of middle managers in large companies and CEOs in small start-ups. The general argument was that these people in a company set the standards for culture across the rest of the company.
The articles then gave specific aspects of a company to focus on. To account for the role of middle managers and CEOs, the article suggests that these people demonstrate a high degree of self-reflection, accountability, and humility. It was also suggested that companies, through demonstration by these people, set standards of strong communication throughout the company as well as a continued dedication to employee well-being.
Takeaway theme from this assignment: self-awareness is big.
Thanks for reading.
Works Cited
Evanish, Jason. “How You Can Get More Feedback From Your Team.” Lighthouse Blog. https://getlighthouse.com/blog/get-more-feedback-team/.
Evanish, Jason. “The One Key To Building And Keeping A Great Company Culture.” Lighthouse Blog. https://getlighthouse.com/blog/company-culture/.
Grenny, Joseph. “What a Real Apology Requires.” Harvard Business Review. 21 October 2016. https://hbr.org/2016/10/what-a-real-apology-requires.
Schmidt, Ilya. “How To Build A Strong Corporate Culture In Five Steps.” 22 December 2022. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/12/22/how-to-build-a-strong-corporate-culture-in-five-steps/?sh=31d61dc85799.
BYOMSPM 
Leave a comment