Teamwork As A Trainer: Overcoming Negativity in Teams
Written By Lauren Tsao, MS, CDBC, CPDT-KA
We have finally reached the end of our Teamwork for Trainers series about the takeaway for pet professionals from the Ferrazzi’s book, “Leading Without Authority” (2020). The final chapters of the book included several gems about overcoming negativity within team settings, which is something all pet professionals will experience at some point in their careers; whether this is with students or other professionals. Gossip, negative remarks, and bringing down others is something everyone will fail victims to dishing out and receiving at some point throughout their career. Understanding the effects of these behaviors and how to overcome them can be the difference between your success or your failure in a team setting. Ferrazzi (2020) mentions in the section “Talk Behind Your Teammates’ Backs (but Only to Be of Service)” on page 187, that when we talk about others, it should about how we can help them as a team with their growth and development as a team member, any other conversation about their pitfalls behind their back is just simply gossip and not helpful to the overall trust of the team (Ferrazzi, 2020).
“True leaders leave no one behind. Going higher together means together.”
So, why does this matter to us as pet professionals? This matters because talking behind the backs of others is something that happens in every profession and with a profession, as ethically and emotionally charged as ours, it can happen very often when we disagree with the training methods of others or dislike how our students are handling their animals in class. When we find ourselves having these negative emotions and thoughts, we could be at higher risk of burnout. Not only does this affect the political environment around us, but it also affects our own ability to complete our own work effectively, as well as our mental state outside of work. On the flip side, Ferrazzi mentions how negativity can be the poison of co-evaluation and then later states, “I believe co-elevation will become a core human competency for living in an ever more diverse, fast-changing, and interdependent world.” (Ferrazzi, 2020, p. 200) This makes it easy to see how important keeping our thoughts positive and our tongues from wagging really are.
“Any change starts by exploring opportunities not by looking for obstacles and sowing division.”
Now that we know this information, what do we do with it? Act professionally and appropriately - even when we are upset. Consider how our words may be taken by others and also take into consideration how we should bring up challenges we are having within our teams in a professional and positive way. Gossip never helped anyone achieve a goal - besides revenge or harm. So, we need to consider how to stay on track ourselves, how gossip and negativity are affecting our own happiness, and when we are actually looking to outsiders for advice or a place to just vent our frustrations. Overall, could we be better at our jobs if we discussed emotional training issues in a more sensitive manner with students? What about if we could discuss our frustrations about certain training methods, even with those who practice them, without the conversation becoming heated? How could this benefit us as individuals and as an industry? I hope everyone enjoyed reading this blog series and will pick up their own copy of the Ferrazzi’s book to find their own gems to transform their teams.
If you are struggling with negativity in your training business or among your students, join us for one of our webinars or workshops for professional dog trainers and dog behavior consultants to learn more about building these skills. Thank you for reading and happy training!
References:
Ferrazzi, K. (2020). Leading without authority. New York: Currency
