Partner companies of Creative Education Concepts and ConvenePro, both providing continuing education opportunities for health care providers and medical professionals, hosted a ½ day “Creating a Team Culture” workshop in Chicago, Illinois on Saturday, January 8^th. 12 leadership individuals from the companies came together in Chicago from their headquarters in Lexington, Kentucky. Each one had a fun and experiential learning experience through sharing information, learning leadership principles, and working together to integrate the learning opportunities with activities to help make each principle stick.

Each person came to the team building event from various backgrounds and various expectations for the program. But each came with their own specific talent and abilities. As the morning progressed each began to understand and appreciate each other better. One area of team building that is often taken for granted is expressing appreciation, not just for work done, but for the qualities each individual possesses that makes then an asset to the company. It can be easy to say, “Thanks” or “Great job!” or even “I really appreciate the work you do.” But it makes much more of an impact, and anchors positive behavior when the leader (or anyone) takes a few moments to observe the qualities or characteristics within a person that causes them to do a good job, or complete a task admirably, or work at a high performance. It is better to recognize that the person has talent and potential that can be augments by recognition.

Next time someone does a good job, completes a task, or just needs a little recognition, go one step beyond saying thank you and give them a compliment based on the strengths they displayed. It is much more powerful and meaningful to say, “I really appreciate your attention to detail, because of that quality in you this report is really great and surpasses expectations.” than to say, “Thanks for the report.” It much more important to say, “You have a great sense of humor and I really am glad you share it with us, it brings life and energy to our meetings” than to say, “You sure are funny.” Next time someone does a good job, exceeds expectations, or you just want to compliment someone- trying go beyond a simple “Thank you” and give them a strength centered compliment based more on who they are than what they did. This is a basic ingredient of creating a team culture.

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