Most employers would love for their employees to behave as if they were part of a high-performance team. A team who shares the same goals, supports each other, resolves conflict in a timely manner and has each other's back. One of the easiest ways to be perceived as a team player instead of an individual contributor is to adjust your language. Instead of saying, I did this and I need that replace the I with we - we need this and we need that to complete the project on time. It’s such a small change that can have a huge impact.When I think of a high performance work team, a NASCAR pit crew comes to mind. Everyone in the pit crew has a specific job to perform using specific tools but no one job is more important than the other. The power of the team is that they function as we instead of me.
Last week, I was delivering a training program on conflict resolution. During the role play exercise, the manager kept using the pronoun I. We need to work together to resolve the conflict sounds so much better than I expect you to resolve the conflict or You need to resolve the conflict. When a manager communicates using we instead of I, he is offering support.
Think about serving your customers. You can say, How can I help you? or How can we help you?
When you communicate with we it sends a message to customers that the entire team is focused on delighting them. When we work together anything is possible!