Do You Like Me or Like Like Me?

This is an interesting question. What is even more interesting is, how many of us actually ask that question at work? Do we really care if somebody likes us, or do we care whether or not they just do what we need them to do? In other words, do we care whether our team member is cooperating with us or just complying? Cooperation builds a long-term team that will grow the business; compliance leads to a “cat’s away” syndrome… only the required work will get done, and only when being “watched”.

Now the question needs to be asked: How do I create this sense of cooperation? It can be done. We need to understand our team members - who they are, and treat them the way they would like to be treated. At Dale Carnegie, we concentrate on partnering with our clients to help create a sense of "team". Mr. Carnegie wrote How to Win Friends and Influence People in 1936. This is the basis of our partnership with our clients. We help our partners bring the ideas of the book to life; bring the ideas of making people like us (and thus work harder with us) to our personalities. By changing our personalities and understanding our team members, we can provide them with the number one and two items they want from their jobs. Although many of us think money is the number one thing our team members want, an extensive survey of over 2.4 million workers, in 32 industrial sectors over 17 years, tells us that the number one item people want is the feeling of importance and number two is to be appreciated for a job well done.

Let’s think about your “best” boss. Was it because he/she gave us a raise? Was it because he/she worked with us, appreciated us, and made us a valued part of the team? Mr. Carnegie’s book and our programs work with 30 human relations principles that help us create the boss we all want to be, and for whom we all want to work. We need to reduce the criticism, show more appreciation, get to know our team members, talk in terms of what is "in it" for them, and make them feel important. These changes do not happen overnight, but they can happen with commitment and having someone hold our feet to the fire to make these changes. A commitment to change, and showing actions towards this change, can create a situation where they really like like us!!

Daveed Snoll, VP of Instruction, Master Trainer
Dale Carnegie Training, Southeast Florida