Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is that when you are working with a new team,
Speaker 1: one of the best icebreakers you can use is for
Speaker 1: everyone to share a tip about how they like to
Speaker 1: work with people. If you have any particular quirks or preferences,
Speaker 1: this is a great time to let people know them.
Speaker 1: And this is a much more useful icebreaker exercise than
Speaker 1: most of the other ones people come up with. Today's tip,
Speaker 1: like others we've heard in recent weeks, comes from Laura
Speaker 1: May Martin, author of the new book Up Time. She
Speaker 1: was also recently a guest on my other podcast, Best
Speaker 1: of Both Worlds. Martin notes that we all develop ways
Speaker 1: that we like working. It is often helpful if other
Speaker 1: people know about these. For instance, maybe you prefer to
Speaker 1: be asked complicated questions in person rather than by email,
Speaker 1: or maybe you prefer texting to email and phone calls.
Speaker 1: Maybe you have an organization system where it is really
Speaker 1: helpful to get meeting agendas at least a day in advance.
Speaker 1: Things get thrown off if you don't have it by then.
Speaker 1: Whatever it is, it is helpful for colleagues or clients
Speaker 1: to know these things, and you probably want to know
Speaker 1: their quirks too. Sharing a tip for working with you
Speaker 1: normalizes being explicit about how you like to interact and work.
Speaker 1: There are some office cultures where it is common for
Speaker 1: employees to have a personal user manual describing the way
Speaker 1: they work in their norms and preferences and procedures. But
Speaker 1: even for an office culture where having personal user manuals
Speaker 1: is not the norm, and trust me, it is not
Speaker 1: the norm in most offices, I do need to know
Speaker 1: how best to work with each other. Not everyone works
Speaker 1: the same way. Being aware of this can make a
Speaker 1: team a lot more efficient. As for making the one
Speaker 1: tip for working with me concept and icebreaker, well, I
Speaker 1: am sure we have all been in meetings where the
Speaker 1: proposed icebreaker didn't quite hit the mark. Which fruit would
Speaker 1: you prefer to be? People share fun facts that aren't
Speaker 1: particularly fun and might not be factual either. Do you
Speaker 1: really need to know that your colleague once met Will
Speaker 1: Ferrell on the beach A tip for working with your
Speaker 1: colleague is going to be far far more useful. So
Speaker 1: if you are a manager and want to help your
Speaker 1: team work together more happily and efficiently. Or if you
Speaker 1: are an individual contributor and happen to get the opportunity
Speaker 1: to lead an icebreaker, consider asking people to share a
Speaker 1: tip for working with them. If you do, you will
Speaker 1: make people more aware of the variety of work habits
Speaker 1: and preferences in your midst and you can become a
Speaker 1: stronger team in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,
Speaker 1: or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
Speaker 1: vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.