Top Tips - September
2008
Teams: 8 things that can go wrong:
Nº 8: Nostalgia:
A good memory of life in a previous team can get in the way of life today in a person's current team. Thoughts may be expressed out loud such as "The best team I ever worked on was on a project to speed up order deliveries to remote clients. If you want to know what a real team is, you should have seen us shaking things up and making things happen on that project."
Basically, that thought is saying "You guys are useless. I wish I was not here with you." Not a very good, constructive communication to be making to your colleagues!
Possible solutions include:
Prevention. Well, this is not much use if you have a nostalgic team member who is unconsciously or carelessly sending out negative signals today! You can, however, help future teams who will have your team members working with them. There are two things you can do to help your team members join new teams with enthusiasm instead of regret.
- Review and acknowledge the team's achievements. Especially powerful if you can have the session led by one of the team's important 'customers', or to have them contribute, at least.
- At the final team meeting, bring 'closure' to the team's existence by having members say what they have valued about each other and what they will miss. This exteriorisation of feelings helps to close the circle and avoid future regrets about not having said things at the appropriate time.
A reasonable first approach to the problem, if you already have a nostalgic on your team, is to have a quiet and private word with them about the negative impact of making unfavourable comparisons.
If you are the nostalgic person, think twice before you indirectly tell people that they are useless! The nostalgic person should think about moving on from the past and applying what they know and learned from the previous experience to the new situation.
A useful phrase to remember is "Do your best, with what you have. Here. Now!" The past is gone!
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