WD40 for Teams

By now y'all  know that my favorite singer/songwriter is Guy Clark. There's a line in one of his songs that struck me as I was thinking about this unit on teams:

"Everybody's got some baggage; she knows how to travel light."

When we consider teams in organizations we need to realize that we all bring our individual differences (personality traits, motive patterns, affect, needs) and interpersonal styles to our teams. All of that stuff (baggage) comes into play in the team context.

We also have different skill sets and abilities and we need to appreciate the differences. Rather than allowing differences to divide us, we need to seek to find ways that all of these differences can complement and complete us - both individually and as a team.

Recently we have been discussing  the topics of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and forgiveness in my Organizational Behavior graduate class. These are so important. OCBs are the extra-role behaviors that can provide "oil" in a team to reduce the friction. And of course, forgiving is huge.

When I think of OCBs I am reminded of what I call the "one another principles." These appear throughout the writings of the apostle Paul in the New Testament. Here's a sampling:

Love one another
Bear with one another
Bear one another's burdens
Encourage one another
Forgive one another
Pray for one another
Honor one another

In the original language (Greek), there are two words for "other." One is an other of a different kind (heteros). But the word used in these phrases is different. It is allos - another of the same kind.

Applying that to our discussion of teams means that we are on the same team - we are others of the same kind.

OCBs and One Another Principles can act like WD40 for our teams. Like WD40, these can reduce the friction, and eliminate the squeaks that occur when we rub up against one another in our teams.