Pushing The Wrong Way

Two boys were struggling with a huge table in a doorway. They pushed and pulled and upped it and downed it until both were exhausted. Between gasps for air, one managed to say, “We better give up…because we’ll never get this table into the house.” “Into the house?” screamed the other.” “I thought we were moving it out of the house!”

Have you ever felt like the guys in the above example? How often do you feel like instead of working together someone is pulling instead of pushing? A better example would be; have you ever cleaned something up, only to have someone come behind you and leave a mess? Perhaps, an even better example; have you ever left something, thinking to yourself that somebody else will clean it up.

We all know the definition of teamwork. However, if any of the above scenarios are occurring, then we are not functioning as a team. Realize it or not, adding additional work to someone who has completed the job correctly can be extremely demoralizing and causes grumbling among the other members of the team.

I use the above examples to illustrate the times when we seem to forget the importance of working as a team, and then for whatever reason, do things that make it harder for the rest of the team. If you will train yourself to ask whether an action benefits or is a detriment to the entire team, you will find yourself working together, for the betterment of each other and the team at all times. Working together, we will accomplish this goal every time a customer walks through the door. Failing to do so is counterproductive and totally unacceptable.