Build a culture of interdependence

At first blush, it sounds like a good idea to hire people who are self-motivated and can work independently, rather than interdependently, and I’ll agree those are good qualities to have. But the temptation with employees like these, for managers, is to put them at a desk and just let them do the job, thinking, “Good, that’s one less thing I have to worry about.” Leaving employees to manage themselves can get you into trouble over time, in more ways than one.

First, all employees need direction and feedback, no matter how self-motivated and able to work independently they are. I’ve yet to meet an employee who wants to be left entirely alone unless he was up to no good. (And I’ve had a few of those, too.)

Second, people who prefer to work on their own may not be good team players. An interdependent team knows the value of working together for the good of the company or team versus gaining glory for themselves.

Small business owners can use the following strategies to foster a culture of interdependence:

• hiring correctly in the first place by aligning with your vision and values

• a consistent program of group and 1-to-1 feedback

• documenting systems in an operations manual

• team building, retreats, and continuous group development

• refusing to take everyone’s “monkeys”

• allowing team members to fail

• project sharing

The tactics used for building a culture of interdependence can help teams to rely on each other, which can alleviate all the craziness of problems like withholding of information, sabotage, cliques, prima donnas, and a raft of other tricks that people resort to when they don’t feel valued as part of a team.
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