Over the weekend, Calvin grabbed one of my notepads and start drawing on it. When I asked what he was up to, he said that he wanted to work with me at my job and he was helping out. So what could he work on? I told him that I am working on focusing our team and improving how we work together – which is true. Here is Calvin’s teamwork advice:

 

 

While at first I struggled to understand his hieroglyphs, after he carefully explained his thought process to us, I was impressed. Forget complicated theories, teamwork advice can be boiled down to three principles.

 

First, take care of other people. His interpretation of this is to take care of other peoples’ kids when they need it. That’s the image being depicted. I asked him if I could expand this to caring for people in general and he said, “Of course!” This is a fundamental truth of being a human and a leader, captured in the drawing of a six-year old. Take care of other people, take care of your team, take care of those who need it. This is the way to build a team and be a leader – no matter your management level. You cannot be an effective leader and get the best out of people if you do not care.

 

Second, leave people alone when they want to be alone. This was an interesting observation coming from one of the most social people I know. However, it is vitally true. Even the most outgoing people need time to recharge or to focus. Boundaries need to be respected and when someone sets aside time for themselves it is not for us to deem it wasted or open or an invitation. It is time that they need to focus on a project, get into deep thought, or even just relax and recharge. 

 

Third, wave goodbye when people leave. I love this one as I think its more unusual but still very true. When I asked Calvin to dig into this one, he said that its important to wave goodbye so people know you see them leaving. Think about this, we speak to people when they reach out to us or when we need to reach out to them. We may need to reach out for personal or productive reasons but whether or not the conversation lasts awhile or is quite short, its over and that’s generally that. This is especially important as we work remotely from each other. What Calvin is talking about here is acknowledgement. Actively and definitely telling people that we see them and that they are more than just a conversation to us, they are important for who they are.  Walking in the street, take time to wave at cars or neighbors – you see them and acknowledge them. Tell workers in busy stores or restaurants that you see them and they are appreciated. People need to be seen, acknowledged, and appreciated. This is something I’ll be doing more intentionally now.

 

So, there we go. All the teamwork advice that we need. Care for others. Respect boundaries. Acknowledge each other. Simple advice is all we need.