imapMyTeam Blog

Same Goal, Two Approaches

Severe winter does not want to yield to spring in my part of the country and that can make it more challenging to get my daily workout in.

My wife and I wear Fitbits and our goal is a minimum of 10,000 steps a day. Because winter is restricting much of the outdoor walking we would normally do, there is more demand to use the treadmill. Just today I was waiting for her to finish so I could start and I noticed her settings. She set a faster speed than I usually walk, while I set the incline steeper. She manually controls the speed and incline. I use one of the pre-programmed routes and modify it as I go.

Two people, same 10,000 step goal, two very different ways to achieve the same thing. Both approaches work because at the end of the day we end up hitting our goal.

Work can be a lot like this. We are trying to reach common organizational goals, but individuals have a preferred path to get there that is personal. It can be hard to remember the basic imapMyTeam principle that states “The best way of doing things may not be your way”. However, it’s still important to consider if the unique paths are complimentary or contradictory. One path leads to success, the other to conflict.

www.imapMyTeam can help you with both.

“Team Player Strengths” describes positive traits that come naturally to you. We suggest you and a key teammate both print this report and talk about where you are similar or different. When different, ask your selves this question: how have those differences contributed to a better solution to the things we are working on in common?

If your differences end up causing you and a teammate conflict, you can refer to the “Resolving Differences” report in the center pane of imapMyTeam. This report will help you understand why working through a disagreement can be so difficult and also provides some helpful suggestions to get you back on a productive track.