Working with others is more complicated than working alone.
The skillset it requires doesn’t always come easily. And things can get especially difficult when you’re working with someone who relates to time differently than you do.
What do you do when you find that someone key to your work success defines her or his values around punctuality, planning, and procrastination very differently than you do?
Don’t be daunted by the task. Approaching these differences proactively can enhance cooperation in ways that may surprise you.
5 tips for working with others:
Here are 5 ideas to help you start viewing these conflicts in time styles as opportunities, rather than hassles:
- Clarify what’s of prime importance to you. Pare it down and negotiate for it. The strength you build makes you more resilient and decisive.
- Attune yourself to others’ varying approaches to time use. Genuinely accepting individual differences in time styles helps with team-building and benefits you in 3 ways:
- Truly accepting that other people won’t change for you spares you the frustration of fruitless efforts to control them.
- When people notice you are not trying to change them, they feel more receptive.
- When your colleagues feel respected, they are increasingly likely to negotiate with you.
- Effective compromising increases flexibility and clarifies lines of power and responsibility. Different time styles often reflect different priorities. Explore how this can work to your mutual advantage. Here’s an example of how that might work:
- Maybe one of you would happily accept added responsibility if you could make your own hours.
- The other might hold down the fort 9:00 – 5:00 in return for not taking work home.
Two more tips for you:
- Commit to creativity. Thinking outside the box carries you beyond rigid power struggles. For every problem, there is a resolution that honors the integrity and needs of each person. So keep trying.
- Present the challenge in terms of shared goals. Keep the focus on the rewards you all will enjoy. This stimulates cooperation. When you invite others to contribute ideas they become more invested in the problem-solving process (and, by extension, more dedicated to making it work).
Make working with others easier:
Negotiating different approaches to time use will challenge each of you to grow.
Rather than framing change as a sacrifice, consider the benefits of seeing and addressing the baseline needs of everyone involved. Ultimately this will improve morale, promote effectiveness and save you time.
Ready to take your next step to creatively negotiate for more productivity and more time?
What ONE THING will you do today to make things easier and more fulfilling for you if you’re working with others?
Want more help?
Overwhelmed? Discouraged? Stuck? Well, here’s something that will help you loosen those logjams and start moving again. “Why Can’t I Ever Get Anything Done?” How to Transform Your Life Using These 101 Time Tips is a compilation of 101 of my most popular time tips in expanded form, offering practical, heart-based wisdom in right-sized bites for easy digestion.
It includes time-tested tips and action steps separated into 11 common categories to help you find just what you need in the moment you need it. You know, transforming your life is all about transforming your time. It’s within your reach, and these 101 Time Tips give you 101 stepping stones to your time success.
And I’ve got a very special bonus for you, too. Why Can’t I Find My Direction?” 17 Journaling Prompts to Create Your Ideal Life is a workbook designed to support you in making the changes you most desire.
There’s so much for you here, and you can learn about it by clicking the link below:
Let’s explore time together…
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