Can Resource-Hoarders Thrive in a Collaborative Work Environment?
​To answer this question, you must first understand what drives their hoarding behavior.
 
Resource-sharing increases productivity and collaboration. Resources such as access to physical or digital space, information, support teams, and cash make collaborative work environments run smoothly. However, some prefer to guard rather than share resources others need to perform.
 
Those who guard resources often want something in exchange for providing access to the resource. They use the resource as currency, creating barriers to access and positioning themselves as gatekeepers. This gatekeeper mentality can clog the wheels of even the smoothest business systems.
 
Understanding the big picture is the key to building a collaborative work environment.
 
In Collaborative Leadership, Oxford Leadership Fellow Thomas J. Hurley notes that shifting from a “me” mindset to a “we” mindset is essential for collaborative work environments. But not all gatekeepers are open to making such a shift.
 
I worked with one multinational corporation that experienced a weekly loss of $40,000 in short-term investment returns so that one field office could save $4,000. Let me explain:
 
At the close of business each day, every field office forwarded its daily cash to the short-term investment group at corporate headquarters. While no single office held enough cash overnight to warrant investing the funds, the dividends were significant when the company pooled those funds to invest.
 
One day, the short-term investment group noticed that one of the field offices was forwarding significantly less money to the pool. In response to their inquiries, the field office manager proudly explained that he had made the office’s financial operations more efficient, realizing significant savings of $4,000 per week.
 
But the $4,000 saved cost the company more than $40,000 in short-term investment returns each week. To rectify the situation, the field office manager would have to dismantle the work he had just completed. How to best approach him with this request depends on whether he is an Ego Gatekeeper or a Power Gatekeeper.
 
Managing Ego Gatekeepers
 
Ego Gatekeepers, as the name implies, focus on building their ego. They want to know that others see them as important, valuable contributors to the organization. They like to think of themselves as indispensable to the organization's success and seek public approval. The most effective way to approach an Ego Gatekeeper with a request is to:

1. Stroke their ego. Praise the Ego Gatekeeper’s ingenuity in finding and implementing operational efficiencies, and have a few higher-ups recognize what they did. Such recognition feeds their ego by giving them attention while letting them know that others are watching how they respond. Each stroke to their ego provides a dopamine rush. If your Ego Gatekeeper is a colleague, the more dopamine hits they associate with you, the more they will want to please you. If you supervise an Ego Gatekeeper, immediate praise for collaborative behavior will result in more collaborative behavior, especially when given publicly.

 

1. Shift their focus to the bigger picture. After praising what the Ego Gatekeeper did in their field office, reinforce how the company values such ingenuity in its leaders. If someone in their direct vertical chain of command praises them for seeing the big picture, it will help broaden their view. If someone up the chain of command from a parallel group praises them, it reminds them that leaders throughout the organization are watching their behavior.

 

1. Thank them for educating corporate leaders. Rather than pointing out that the Ego Gatekeeper hurt the company, praise them for revealing a critical issue others had not considered. Focus on the idea that everyone learned a lesson from this experience and that they are grateful to the Ego Gatekeeper for enlightening them.

 

1. Make them your ambassador. Ask to interview the Ego Gatekeeper for the company newsletter or invite them to speak at a regional meeting to educate other field offices on the need to consider the company’s interests first. Since their well-meaning actions exposed this issue, they can be a great spokesperson. Once they become the center of attention, lauded for doing what was best for the company, they will seek such opportunities to benefit the company in the future.

 
Managing Power Gatekeepers
 
Power Gatekeepers focus on building and preserving power. They want power over their role and as much power over others as possible. The organization's success does not concern them. The most effective way to approach a Power Gatekeeper with a request is to:

1. Check Your Assumptions. If you aren’t certain that your employee is a Power Gatekeeper, give them the chance to demonstrate otherwise. They just might surprise you. What looks like a power grab might be insecure behavior. See how they respond to managing their ego first. But don’t beg for their cooperation. Power Gatekeepers see begging as a sign of their power, giving them a dopamine rush that encourages recalcitrance.

 

1. Be Mindful of Boundaries. Before confronting the Power Gatekeeper, consider whether the issue at hand treads on what they consider to be their realm. Recognize that “we” environments threaten the Power Gatekeeper, leading them to dig in their heels. To the Power Gatekeeper, their efficiency is not the problem. The problem is the inefficiency of the other field offices (and the corporation’s tolerance of such inefficiencies), regardless of the financial outcome.

 

1. Exercise Your Power. Power gatekeepers only respect direct orders from direct superiors (those who have the power to fire them). If your team must deal with a Power Gatekeeper, let them know they have your support. They need to be willing to come to you with difficulties. Likewise, you will want to maintain strong relationships with the Power Gatekeeper’s superiors. Only they will be able to influence the Power Gatekeeper’s behavior. In many cases, you need a power solution to a power problem. The field office manager only responded to direct orders from his superiors to dismantle the new system and resume forwarding more cash to the pool.

 

1. Know When You Must Let Them Go. Power Gatekeepers focus on growing control in their sphere of influence, not what is in the company’s best interests. Some Power Gatekeepers survive in collaborative environments despite their behavior because they are highly skilled or highly productive performers. Such toxic performers bring value to the organization in the short term, but their overall toxicity harms the organization in the long run. Highly competent people will leave rather than continue to work with toxic team members. If you have a Power Gatekeeper in your organization, your best path to success is often letting them go.

 
As organizations grow, the need for collaborative work and resource-sharing grows. Teams that focus on the “we” are essential for long-term success because they share resources to best serve the organization. Team members who cannot move past the “me” mindset, hoarding resources as currency, quickly become detrimental to the organization.
 
Managing Ego Gatekeepers and Power Gatekeepers requires deliberate attention to promote collaboration. It is often easier to shift Ego Gatekeepers to a “we” mindset, thus improving collaboration and resource-sharing. But when the “me” focus of your Power Gatekeepers disrupts your “we” environment, encouraging them to leave for another organization is often best for everyone.

How to Celebrate Accomplishments
Using Gary Chapman’s 5 Love Languages to Celebrate Your Teams

You want to thank your team for their hard work on a special project. Should you throw a party? Give gift cards? A day off? Different people receive acts of appreciation differently. The way to maximize the impact of your recognition is to know your team and know what they like. Gary Chapman’s The 5 Love Languages spells out 5 simple ways people feel appreciated and can help reveal how to reward and motivate your team. His context is family relationships, but his lessons translate well to the work environment. Chapman identifies the love languages as Acts of Service, Receiving Gifts, Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, and Physical Touch. The latter two, of course, require careful consideration when adapting to the work environment. Some of these create the best impact when combined, as you will see.

1. Acts of Service

Acts of service include doing tasks for someone that alleviates their burden, even if lightly. For these people, bringing them a cup of coffee, or bringing their mail to them warms their heart. They might provide acts of service to others to show their gratitude (unless they are just savvy at identifying Acts of Service as another’s love language), and will show genuine pleasure when you or others perform acts of service for them.

If your team worked hard providing financial data needed to close a merger but their regular end of month data is still to be compiled, any steps you can personally take to facilitate that effort is helpful and meaningful to the Acts of Service crowd.  Note: simply hiring someone else to relieve them of their work is nice, and a gift on its own, but lacks the same meaning to this group of people as if you did it yourself. It is the personal extension of your own time and effort that has meaning for them.

Say your juicing store held an event that kept your team outside serving customers. Starting on what would normally be their inside cleanup shows your gratitude for their effort, and means the world to Acts of Service types. As they wrap up their big project outside, you can share a thank you and share they news that you cleaned up inside so they are free to go. Be sure to communicate that you did that as a thank you to them to get the full impact (otherwise they might think that your cleaning up inside is the new normal for big events).

Other acts of service include:

• Cleaning up a break room
• Returning books or files to the library or storage room for someone
• Washing cars (this one always seems to get a big response)
• Putting a room back in order after a meeting
• Bringing food/coffee for others without being asked
• Helping with clean up after an event

Basically, doing any work you might think is beneath you will bolster the morale of your team and is considered an act of service.

Hosting a dinner that you prepare and serve (perhaps you like to BBQ?) can mean the world to your Acts of Service team members. Putting personal thought and effort into creating an experience for your team means much. Make sure your act of service is an act of service rather than an act of indulgence. The point of your focus should be not on your ego but on your team’s sense of feeling appreciated and celebrated.

2. Receiving Gifts

Token gifts of gratitude demonstrate thoughtfulness and are often stored like trophies. The Receiving Gifts lover is easy to identify as their desk or office is likely full of memorabilia with associated stories eagerly shared when asked; they might wear necklaces, lapel pins, or cufflinks that are mementos from special events or people. Plaques, photos, or photo frames recognizing effort or participation in company events are proudly displayed. Things carry the importance of the giver and the story behind them. The more personal the gift, the more meaning it carries.

If your team is small, or you are thanking just one person for their effort, an individual gift will easily suit that person. Keeping consistency among team members though, helps to reinforce the team identity.

Gifts can be delivered in a way to give them greater meaning. A public speech when granting a gift, or a personal note accompanying it will deepen the meaning for the recipient. When coupled with another Love Language (Words of Affirmation or Quality Time), the impact of the gift can be quite powerful.

3. Words of Affirmation

Affirmation or praise can powerfully impact this group. If you see someone smile, blush, or express deep gratitude in response to praise, this might be someone whose love language is Words of Affirmation. Words of affirmation take two forms: private and public.

Public affirmations make the person you are recognizing feel appreciated, and shows the team how you value that person. This helps the team learn to see additional value in each other. The award of most valuable player is a public recognition at the close of a game or season. The award helps other players identify what it takes to become the most valuable player. Granting the award comes with a description of why the person won it, with concrete examples of their behavior that made them valuable. For people who cherish Words of Affirmation, creating their moment in the sun gives them a boost for years to come. Combining words of affirmation with a physical gift of a plaque or other memento helps to memorialize the valued words.

Private affirmations are helpful to reinforce what you have shared in public, and not all words of praise need or should be shared publicly. A quick one-on-one chat in passing can include a brief expression of appreciation that will motivate this worker for time to come. A reply to any report or communication that includes appreciate for the effort your team member contributed goes a long way to their feeling appreciated.

4. Quality Time (use with caution)

We have all seen it. The favorite associate being taken to lunch by the V.P.; casual conversations in the boss office where there is laughter and storytelling – clear bonding. These interactions can smack of favoritism for reasons other than performance, but also create opportunities for the boss to learn from the team.

Thus, such time is helpful when shared equally. At an event, take time to interact with each team member (when possible). At least visit each table, making eye contact and interacting with each person present at the table. If the event is too big to meet with everyone in a meaningful manner, add smaller team events where you can interact more closely. In a public space, you can still create one-on-one conversations with good eye contact and respectful posture to build connection. If shared over a meal, all the better. Including different team members in your golf round at the annual retreat works, too. Ensure that your behavior and circumstances are strictly professional and not misinterpreted. Quality Time folks see such time as proof that they are important and are valued.

Know your team before launching expensive celebrations. Company-wide parties are sometimes perceived as wasteful, being so broadly shared that they lack personal gratitude. Ensure any large group gathering serves the purpose of celebrating those team members you want to feel appreciated, and does not appear to be your personal party for your own friend circle.

If you want to treat team members to special outings, follow these tips to keep Quality Time effective and professional:

• Arrange small group rather than individual outings to reduce the risk of sexual harassment claims
• Use professional environments and activities only
• Interact equally – and professionally – with all team members
• Maintain high visibility for these events, both in their calendaring and execution

If you only take individual team members of your own gender on one-on-one events, you risk creating resentment or subjecting yourself to hostile environment claims. Ensure the access you create for some is appropriate for all, and then provide it to all.

5. Physical touch (use with extreme caution)

People who respond to physical touch do so because this creates connection and bonding for them. When they are connecting with someone else, they feel a sense of belonging and appreciation. This love language is most often addressed in romantic relationships, making it a sensitive topic for the professional environment.

Professionally, handshakes are the safest and most effective method of communicating gratitude through touch. A hearty handshake with good eye contact and words of appreciation will carry great weight with those who value physical touch. At the close of a big project, handshakes all around are a great idea. Be sure to make the most of that moment by making eye contact, smiling, and expressing your gratitude and congratulations. With people we see daily in the office, we rarely use gestures in our greetings, which can give them greater significance at the close of a project.

Avoid the temptation of saying “I’m a hugger,” and expecting others to welcome your hugs. Handshakes are the safest form of touching in a professional environment. If someone responds to your attempt to shake hands by presenting a fist bump, high five, hand-on-heart, or other, more limited gesture, respect that gesture and respond in kind. If your goal is to express gratitude and create a bond, responding to their gesture will be most effective at reaching that goal.

Combine Love Languages for Effect
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As you learn your team’s love languages, you can create moments of celebration that check off everyone’s need to be appreciated. Margaret Thatcher used to cook dinner for her ministers in her home. I know other leaders who BBQ dinner for their teams, donning an apron to serve others. But acts of service can include making something specific for team members, personally arranging something they would appreciate. You can include a public toast recognizing each team member, individual conversations throughout the night, and send people home with a special thank you gift and heartfelt handshake, and you will have touched every team member’s needs in some form. The better you know your team’s love languages, the more closely you can tailor the event to making them feel appreciated.

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Once you recognize the need to celebrate your team, Identifying the love languages of your team members will help you celebrate and motivate them. Creating moments where several languages can be combined to express gratitude and appreciation, as part of a team celebration, improves talent retention through bonding.dentifying the love languages of your team members helps you celebrate and motivate them. Creating moments where several languages can be combined to express gratitude and appreciation, as part of a team celebration, improves talent retention through bonding.

When you have lived as long as I have (please don’t ask…), the phrase “He’s a good guy” becomes a bit of a red flag. It is often used to defend someone who is good to the speaker but not so good to others, particularly those in another demographic group.  The phrase can imply that perhaps the target deserves the harassment for some reason – they must be a difficult person.

In their hbr.org article, Stop Protecting “Good Guys,” Resa E. Lewiss, MD, W. Brad Johnson, David G. Smith, and Robin Naples, M.D. articulately describe the problematic nature of the “Good Guy” defense for workplace harassment in STEMM industries, and offer suggestions for addressing the problem.  Their affirmative steps to improve situational awareness are helpful. They also recommend checking your own impulse to gaslight and behave differently.

My husband, a retired physician, taught me the phrase “check your own pulse first,” which I would add to their recommendations.  When you want to gaslight by using the “good guy” defense, ask yourself, “Why do I feel the need to defend this behavior?”  Explore your own feelings before considering the other players.  Check your own pulse first, then check theirs.

Having empathy exclusively for a harasser will hurt the person harassed, will hurt you and your organization, and will ultimately hurt the harasser.  Try to develop empathy for the “other’s” perspective, especially if you are inclined to use the “good guy” defense for what you know is problematic behavior.

When someone is good to you, that does not necessarily mean they are good to all.

On a lighter note, as a retired attorney, I noticed these authors focused on STEMM industries.   They may have left out the legal field because it is not a science, or maybe because you just don’t often hear people describe lawyers – in any circumstances – as “good guys.”  We tend to get a bad rap!
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Take a moment to read this article and take your own pulse to see if you rely on the “Good Guy” defense when you should not.

Have you been asked to write a letter of recommendation?  Was it…
- to recommend a colleague or someone you supervised?
- as ghost writer for your supervisor to recommend a coworker?
- for yourself when you asked for a letter of recommendation?
 
When I receive an uptick in queries about letters of recommendation, it means more people are closing in on positions, which is great.  What can be tough is navigating the delicate world of letters of recommendation.

Two articles nicely address important issues for drafting letters for yourself or others:

When Someone Asks You for a Reference by Rebecca Knight in HBR at https://hbr.org/2015/10/when-someone-asks-you-for-a-reference
And
How to write a letter of recommendation – for yourself by Dr. Adaira Landry & Dr. Resa E. Lewiss in Fast Company at https://www.fastcompany.com/90757084/how-to-write-a-letter-of-recommendation-for-yourself
 
 Key takeaways are:

1.   GIVE CONTEXT

Establish how the letter signatory knows the person being recommended

2.  GIVE DATA

Save superlative conclusions about character for your close.  For the body of your letter, provide objective accomplishments that show someone’s capabilities.

3.  BE HONEST

Preserve your reputation and only write a letter if you can truly recommend the person.  Conversing with the requester about strengths and job requirements will help you decide if you want to put your name on the line.  Politely refuse if you would not hire the person for that role.

If someone writes a letter of recommendation for you, be sure to follow up with a thank you and an update on the position.  If they care enough to write the letter, they surely are interested in the outcome. 

What are your experiences requesting or writing letters of recommendation?

Strong leaders use celebrations to reinforce teams learning and strengthen team bonding. Calendaring celebrations during and at the close of projects will help team morale, commitment, and performance. They are opportunities to express gratitude, which improves employee productivity and talent retention.

Calendaring celebrations is essential for long term success because celebrations recognize accomplishments, create bonding, and create necessary pause points for your team.

1. Celebrations Recognize Accomplishments

Recognizing accomplishments ensures your team knows you appreciate their win and their hard work achieving it. When recognizing a goal reached, be sure you recognize the effort it took to get there. Mention when the journey began, how far you came, what changed along the way, and what obstacles you overcame. If the goal itself changed or your process had to be rehauled, be sure to recognize that shift as a significant point in the journey. Take this opportunity to express gratitude for each team member’s unique contribution to the whole. When they realize you truly appreciate their value, you not only improve their performance, but also develop loyalty and improve long term retention.

Ask your team leaders what the hurdles were, and of what they are most proud. Elevating the story of these victories reminds them that you support them along every journey, even if you are not visibly in the weeds with them. This helps to motivate your team in the future, and helps them to see that adversities arising mid-stream will make for great stories when all is behind you. 

Group self-evaluation also trains team members that evaluating performance with a focus on what was learned is highly valued in your organization. Developing a culture and habit of self-evaluation will increase learning and performance over time. And as long as team members keep learning, they are more likely to stay on.

2. Celebrations Create Bonding Among Teams

Gathering to celebrate progress helps team members value everyone’s contributions to the greater effort, and increases their desire to perform successfully for the team. When teams are getting along well, celebrating helps to cement that good will, improving retention rates and productivity.

Yet every team is sure to find friction among its members during a project. Remembering those friction points and recognizing how team members resolved to work together highlights the strength of your team – their resilience and fortitude. These reminders help them focus on solutions rather than problems, which of course helps the next time friction arises. When you demonstrate gratitude for your team members, you model healthy interpersonal skills and set a positive, constructive tone for your team culture. It also demonstrates that you know team friction happens and that you value solutions most of all.

Whether the team worked well together or struggled to find harmony, celebrating togetherness at the completion of your project affirms teamwork going forward. Recognizing any subtle or behind-the-scene contributions also helps everyone see that you are, in fact, a team, and that everyone contributes as best they can. Affirming this bond increases productivity and, of course, talent retention.

3. Celebrations Create Pause Points

"Congratulations on our Q4 results. You all went the extra mile to make our company a real success. Our next goals is..." How many of us have experienced the recognition for a job well done that is followed in the same breath with a focus on the new goal? Moving directly from recognition of an accomplishment straight into the next goal is a great way to fatigue and alienate your team. If this is how you celebrate, you will soon see your best people depart.

Creating a Pause Point, a team-wide deep breath, after completing a big project is important, and the best way to initiate the pause is with a celebration. Take time to celebrate all of the effort, all of the learning, all of the bonding, and then give your team a breather. Granting a breather shows you truly do appreciate everything you just recognized. It validates the importance of the accomplishment you have just celebrated, and gives your team opportunity to recharge before launching on the next task. Even if it is just letting them leave an hour or two early for smaller projects, granting space to recuperate shows that you value your team’s time and effort. Pauses also let deeper experiences bubble up to conscious awareness, which creates opportunity for greater individual and group learning.

A group pause after an accomplishment lets the bonding from the project set in permanently. It reinforces that the accomplishment was a team accomplishment – accomplished together and celebrated together. Pause Points are essential for long term talent retention, too. Your team surely gave you an extra effort during the project; giving back a little afterward is a concrete way to show gratitude.

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Leading your team means accomplishing goals large and small. Leaders know that celebrations are important for milestones, and help most when coinciding with pause points before moving forward again. Calendaring moments for your team to reflect on accomplishments reinforces the positive aspects of the relationships on your team. Recognizing accomplishments, bonding teams, and creating healthy pause points will help your team achieve long term success.
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Contact Network for Impact to learn more about making essential celebrations for your teams at chair@network4impact.net.