On the Job by Anita Bruzzese Gretchen Rubin How to Make Teams Better Than Ever

On the Job by Anita Bruzzese Gretchen Rubin How to Make Teams Better Than Ever If youwant your team be happierand more productive, help them develop the individual habits that are right for them and you will reap the rewards of a better team. Do you have team members that drive you crazy? Perhaps one employee hates rules and fights any kind of oversight. Another worker seems to get upset when not given lots of deadlines and structure. In frustration, you decide everyone will just do as you say with no whining. The result: unhappyteams who become less productiveover time. Its very difficult to understand how people might be different from ourselves, says Gretchen Rubin, a bestselling author who writes about happiness. If Im a manager and I work a certain way, then it makes sense to me that things should be done that way. But it doesnt make a whole lot of sense to others who do not work that way.So while managers may want team members to adopt better work habits and drop others that are seen as less desirable, its not something that can be accomplished merely by issuing a memo or adopting new software. The fact is, no one-size-fits-all solution exists, Rubin says. In her book, Better Than Before, Rubin explains that before individuals can adopt new habits to improve their work performance, they must first understand how they respond to expectations. Once they do that, then workers can better understand how to embrace habits that will be most beneficial. Rubin says that her research shows that people fall into these four groups: 1. Upholders.These people respond readily to both inner expectations (such as New Years resolutions) and outer expectations (such as meeting work deadlines). These types wake up each morning and think: Whats on the schedule and the to-do list for today? Theyavoid making mistakesor letting(read more here)