How to Work with Amazing People
I know. You read the title of this post and are wondering what the hell I’m talking about. Working with amazing people should be a breeze and not something anyone needs guidance on. Au contraire. Working with an A team is wonderful but it’s certainly not always a perfect experience. Even amazing people face challenges, tackle conflicts and have their off days. Sometimes it’s almost more difficult to deal with these challenges when you’re used to being surrounded by such a high level of awesome. Here are my suggestions for how to thrive when surrounded by the best and the brightest.
Soak Up the Inspiration
Being surrounded by talented, hard working people every day isn’t always easy. It can leave some of us battling self-esteem gremlins that aren’t doing any of us any good. Instead of focusing on where you feel you’re lacking, be inspired by those around you. Impressed with that colleague who delivered a kick ass presentation? Use that as fuel to improve your own presentation skills. Better yet, ask that person for pointers. Why waste time feeling sorry for yourself when you can rely on those around you to help you improve?
Ask Questions
You know what they say about assuming … It’s so frustrating when you think all is well within your organization only to find that trouble lurks underneath. If you’re not asking how people are feeling, you may never know. Ask questions when you’re frustrated with an interaction that occurred with a colleague, don’t just fill in the blanks and make assumptions as to why it happened without checking in with the other person first. It’s fascinating how easy it is for all of us to create stories that support our feelings in a situation when we don’t bother to ask the other party their point of view. Remember there are two sides to every story and be open to hearing them.
Give the Benefit of the Doubt
Part One
When we’re used to experiencing amazing results from people consistently, we struggle when that person doesn’t deliver in the way we’d expect. We feel like someone has let us down a few times and we’re ready to write that person off completely. What we forget is we don’t truly know what anyone else is going through. People are doing the best that they can. Try to understand that about those in your world because you sure as heck would want them to do the same for you when you’re struggling.
Part Two
Guess what? You’re human, too. You are going to react to things. And you’ll do or say things that may upset people. It’s inevitable and that’s ok. As long as you are mindful, own it and rectify it after the fact. Don’t beat yourself up and move on.
Being on an outstanding team of brilliant people can be humbling. It can be uplifting. It can also be a lot of fun. Never let yourself forget these things because that can happen too easily when you’re swept up in the day to day.
