Musings on project management: Red rover, red rover, send ..... over!

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Red rover, red rover, send ..... over!

It's an old game but it's a way to choose a team:

Everyone stands around waiting to be chosen
The team leader chants: "Red rover, red rover, send { name } over!", and that person is chosen

Ooops! It's hell to be the last chosen... or worse, not chosen at all! Gives you a headache (take aspirin) and sometimes a heartache (Rejected!)

So, Carolyn O'Hara has some advice:

Do:

Check your own behavior and biases for tendencies that might make people feel excluded

Empower others — it makes them feel trusted and included

Continually work at creating an inclusive culture — it’s an ongoing process

Don’t:

Gloss over differences — people want their unique contributions to be valued

Assume diversity is the same as inclusion

Leave it to chance — be proactive about promoting inclusion

Gloss over differences — people want their unique contributions to be valued

Catalyst Research Center for Advancing Leader Effectiveness recently completed a survey of 1,500 workers in six countries that showed people feel included when they “simultaneously feel that they both belong, but also that they are unique..” So, no Taylorism here: no one is "plug and play"; everyone has their unique utility.

Of course, while you're busy being inclusive, be aware that you might also need to be tolerant. Tolerance and inclusion are actually different ideas ... you can be tolerant without bothering to include; and you can be inclusive while being intolerant to those included.

It's a bit tricky for some, but for a productive team, you really should try for both qualities.