Teamwork and Synergy
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One of my first clients was a commercial real estate developer who managed 103 million square feet of industrial and office properties in the United States and the United Kingdom. Serving a large commercial client was fun – I traveled extensively, met hundreds of their people, and learned a lot. Every employee, from property manager to building maintenance attended my seminars and this client developed a winning culture.
The two most important words in a commercial real estate developer’s vernacular are lease and renewal. Why are these words so important? It’s because the least expensive and easiest way to maintain business continuity is to keep the building tenants happy. Happy tenants renewed their leases. Unhappy tenants made unreasonable demands, expected free services, and threatened to leave if things didn’t improve.
The commercial contractors who I serve fully embrace the lease renewal mantra, and exceptional teamwork among coworkers is their winning formula.
Commercial contractors win when internal information is shared among employees in a timely manner and with a cooperative attitude. These teams have learned to leverage synergy to their advantage.
In this article, I will focus on three winning teamwork concepts: synergy, effectiveness, and efficiency.
Synergy is the creation of a whole that is greater than the simple sum of its parts.
In other words, when two or more people combine their efforts, they can accomplish more together than if they added their accomplishments separately. Teams get more done working together than working apart. In mathematical terms, a synergy formula is: 2 + 2 = 5.
Another key commercial contractor teamwork discipline is being effective.
Being effective means knowing how to prioritize and complete work that brings you and your team closer to its goals. Companies rely on effective team members who will cooperate with each other especially during adverse situations.
Within commercial contractors, a pre-arrival phone call to the facilities manager is proactive, courteous, and professional. These calls help technicians to be forewarned of any emergencies. This proactive stance helps avert situations that cause teams to become ineffective due to unforeseen circumstances.
A proactive phone call enables the facilities manager or maintenance engineer to keep the building tenants informed about maintenance work, repairs, and remodeling. The more tenants knew about what was going on – the fewer tenants complain.
The next key teamwork concept is efficiency.
Being efficient means knowing how to do the work with the economy so as not to waste time and effort.
Going back to the previous pre-arrival phone call example, efficiency is achieved when the technician speaks with certainty and precision.
Why?
Because knowing what you are supposed to say enables you to focus more attention on how to say it. Knowing how to convey a message impacts the vocal tone which comprises 80% of telephone communication.
With the proper pace of speech, articulation, vocal melody, and less verbal junk – technicians convey a positive vocal image of their company and themselves.
Speaking with certainty and precision enables a technician to get more work done right the first time with enhanced communication, fewer misunderstandings, and greater customer rapport. Since efficiency involves working with a greater economy – minimizing waste and rework are priorities. The cumulative impact of saved minutes during a workday adds up to improved teamwork and greater profitability.
Effectiveness and efficiency are key teamwork behaviors and when implemented – result in greater synergy for commercial contractors.
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Posted In: ACCA Now
