I found my voice in junior high, but I didn’t learn to listen until I was in college. That’s about right, I think, for most adolescents. By the time I entered the workforce, I was equipped to do both though I was still very young and Experience became my best life coach. It seems like, as an Observer, that many of our team members lack the skills to overcome many common thinking errors that can derail and devastate the concept of “team.”

It was actually an innocent, “What would you do?” conversation that opened my eyes to the concept of eliminating thinking errors in the workplace. How does one teach and train a group of onsite leasing consultants to become a fantastic, cohesive, goal-oriented team? When a group of people are thrown together daily because they were “chosen” to perform specific tasks, HR cannot be sure they will gel and mesh well. Time will tell, yes, but at what costs to the business? To what costs to those individuals?

“So, would you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Okay. Here it is. This girl’s boyfriend is dying and has only ten days to live. Would you go ahead and marry him?”

“Depends,” Manager A says.

Leasing Consultant 1 states emphatically that she would. She needed no other information at that point as she feels her heart is right and just in this decision.

Leasing Consultant 2 states just as emphatically that she would NOT EVER.

Manager A asks for more information. Were they thinking of marriage already? The answer is yes, they are engaged to be married and already planning the wedding, which is to take place in ten months. Except that the groom is dying now and doctors give him only a few more days to live. Manager A says, “Yes, I would. I would want to fulfill his last dying wish and make him happy.”

Leasing Consultant 2 states again that she would not even consider it. “Why not?” both Leasing Consultant 1 and Manager A ask.

“I just wouldn’t.”

So, enter the Regional. “Can you think of a way to do this without compromising your reason for NOT fulfilling his last wish? Is there another solution?”

Fundamentally, there may be no right or wrong reason to feel one way or the other. But it certainly brought up an observation of seeing how one person makes a conclusion versus how another one does. There are any number of common thinking errors psychologists identify when working with people. Several of these can and often do impact an onsite team. Number one on the list is:

1.       Black and White Thinking: it’s either good or it’s bad; it’s either one way or the other with nothing in between. We must teach our teams, both leasing and maintenance, to find the Gray Areas. This can be done by challenging them to find creative solutions to the problem. For example, Unit 102 is Pre-Leased to Ms.X. The current resident calls and asks to renew his lease. What should you do? It is a pretty black and white scenario, but is there a creative solution to be worked out in order to KEEP both your current resident and your Prospect? You might be surprised when you hear one LC say, no and another one say, yes. As a Manager, learn to communicate using the Brainstorming technique. Perhaps a transfer for the current, or a reassignment of unit for the Applicant could work. It is up to us to figure it out amicably.

2.       Filtering: narrowing your focus on only the negative of a situation; for example, there is a problem with the pool pump and chemistry and now the pool is green and unusable. The thinking error occurs in layers: Maintenance is stupid. Why can’t they have foreseen this? This can be followed by Black and White Thinking – “They NEVER fix anything and the pool will have to be closed the rest of the summer.” The Team Leader will need to corral that thinking error and put it into reverse quickly before morale hits a decline. This is a situation where the team will need to communicate the cause and fix so that Residents can be reassured that the pool will be opened again within a specified time period. Emailing residents is an effective means of communication and much more proactive than posting a Closed Sign on the pool gate only. The Team Leader must work with the Negative Nelly to refocus and rephrase the negative thoughts into something more productive. Allowing the negativity to continue will break up the team, not bring it together to resolve the issue.

3.       Exaggerating: this is similar to filtering. Team Leaders can help avoid thinking errors by asking pertinent questions of the person. For example, LC 2 says, “I just checked Unit 405 and it’s a mess. It won’t be ready on time and I can’t put my name on THAT! Maintenance NEVER does a good turn!” Team Leaders need to help this thinking error by asking: What is the worst thing that can happen? What is the best thing that can happen? What is MOST LIKELY to happen? Is there anything good that can come from this situation? What is the solution; how do we fix it? It is one thing to complain about something, and it is entirely another to present a solution. Teaching LC 2 to report on the condition of the unit in a calm way is your goal and then help him to relay the information to all parties who can initiate the solution: Unit 405 still has cleaning issues. When is this being addressed because Mr. Y is moving in day after tomorrow?

4.       Labeling: calling people names or being self-deprecating in a truly negative way. We all sometimes say things like, “I’m so stupid!” But calling yourself and meaning it is destructive. Calling team-members names in a similar fashion, “She dresses like a slut!” “He stupid, always leaving his tools in vacants!” is just as destructive. All onsite and upper management need to be taught this and the idea reinforced to judge the situation and not the person. For example, implement check lists if necessary for the maintenance techs so tools are not left in units. Implement a dress code policy to alleviate the chance of someone wearing inappropriate work attire. This also applies to residents. Hearing your team call a Resident a name needs to be abolished the first time (even if said as a joke.) The fact is at some point, someone will say it within earshot of a Resident and then all trust and credibility will be gone in one second. If you do this or allow it, ask yourself how you would feel if you overheard someone saying this about you.

5.       Always Having to Be Right (or Perfect) otherwise known as Authority Conflict or Power Play: when being right is more important than how someone else may feel; continually having to prove your opinions and actions are correct. For example, “I told you Maintenance wouldn’t get that bag of trash picked up, or that vacant unit turned fast enough.” Oftentimes, this thinking error is tied to a sense of secretiveness (holding back information). In this case, it could be that LC 3 knew that the turn was not completed but did not share that with the Manager or LC 1 whose Applicant was scheduled to move in that day. It does no one any good, least of all the Applicant, to withhold critical information. Team Leaders must learn to gain the trust of the team so that operational information is shared every day. This should be why Managers and Maintenance Supervisors communicate throughout the day. This is why Leasing Consultants must be trained and permitted to contact Supervisors about turns and when a vacant is rented. It is not just the Manager who needs to relay information to others.

Finally, there is also the matter of team members who try to exercise what is known as Silent Power. This is when someone becomes very quiet, often refusing to participate or even explain what might be bothering him. Most often, this is followed by Slacking when that person does only the bare minimum required. Sometimes, people engage in this type of behavior because they feel the other person will judge him and do not trust that his point of view will be listened to and understood. The Team Leader will need to reiterate that NOT explaining his feelings will not lead to a resolution. Team Leaders are not mind readers.

Team leaders have a lot to consider when faced with a team member exhibiting these traits. It is best to be both proactive and also straightforward in communicating with these people. It is necessary to bring it up and question their thinking errors. By the time this person is on your team, their thinking patterns are well established and the result oftentimes of childhood traumas that were not addressed. Generally, it is better to bring up scenarios that are likely to happen in your workplace and discuss them. Have an open door policy to help others gain trust with you and do not be afraid to point out thinking errors.