What does it mean to be a part of a family? I’m sure every person would explain their familial commitment in a completely different manner, as we’ve all had plenty of varying experiences and would testify in alternate ways. But there are some common themes to being a part of a functioning, healthy family. Some of these include but are not limited to loving unconditionally, acting as an equal team member, contributing to the household in some way, speaking with kindness, cleaning up after yourself, understanding your family members’ quirks and habits in order to work in cohesion with them and understand their needs better… and the list clearly goes on. My argument is that you should be treating your team like your family… at all times… and yes, to a very similar degree.
I’m sure some people cringe when they think of their boss calling their team a family. To refer back to my previous blog about the I Just Work Here Mentality, it’s easy to understand why those with said mindset would not be interested in the family/work dynamic. I don’t want to invest in these people, I want to invest in my closest people and my own personal relationships. But when the dynamic at the office is set up properly, and those in leadership positions are trustworthy enough to be considered family and lead the team in a familial way, the environment blossoms and the family dynamic becomes less… scary. I personally feel most comfortable when I’m close enough with my team to be able to address them as I would a family member.
There are things you’d do for your family members that you might not do for others, such as protect them at all costs, love them unconditionally, sacrifice for them if need be, but not ONLY that… you hold your family accountable at all times, because that’s what loving them and caring about them means. There are lessons you teach family members that you might be relatively uncomfortable trying to teach others. This is because there’s an extreme level of trust established, and this is the kind of trust we want to establish within our teams. Establishing that high level of trust is something your team could not only benefit from, but transform from. We should be empowering our team as we empower our family members, encouraging them, and calling them out and on.
If you’re interested in this functional familial dynamic in the office, how can you apply some basics in order to establish that level of trust? Make open communication a strong internal value versus a practice. Devote outside time to your team. Allow everyone to have an equal voice. And put yourself in a position of example to encourage the same dynamic through the entire office. Good leadership encourages familial traits woven into the workplace; do more for your people!