Essay Sample on Cultivating Collaboration: Jim Tamm & Four Horsemen of Apocalypse

Introduction

Collaborative workplace environments and building effectiveness are crucial in fostering good communication. When there are concerns in the workplace, people generally start feeling susceptible. Destructive behaviors like criticism, contempt, defensiveness and stonewalling are not suitable in work situations. The paper examines cultivating collaboration as illustrated by Jim Tamm and the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse behaviors" to create a productive and positive workplace.

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Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse Behaviors

The destructive behaviors that I engage in during conflict include criticism, contempt, defensiveness and stonewalling. During a conflict, I tend to criticize my colleague and laying the blame on him. Whenever we argue over a certain issue, I always find myself criticizing my colleague's character which pains him. In the state of contempt, I am also mean to my friends at the workplace in case there is a conflict. I usually treat them with disrespect, call them names, mimic their behavior and mock them with sarcasm. Every time I am criticized by my colleagues, I become defensive and feel that I have been unfairly accused. I usually look at excuses to make up for my wrongful behavior. When contempt is meted on me during a conflict, I usually withdraw from the interaction with my colleagues or stop responding to them altogether.

Early Warning System Using Tamm's Talk

Using Tamm's talk, my early warning system for the destructive behavior will involve making excuses, cross complaining and yes-butting. The first step to create awareness of these destructive behaviors will be accepting responsibility. This will also entail small behaviors and listening to colleagues concerns. The second stage will entail active listening (Nichols 112). It might be an error in communication that caused defensiveness in destructive behavior. Therefore, to avoid future concerns, it will be important to review the message of my colleague and then verify its accuracy before jumping into any conclusion. The last step will entail validating the colleague's sentiments and see the sense of the communication process.

Action Step and Recommendations

Tamm provides the audience with crucial lessons that translate into their workplace environments. The action step includes:

Step 1: Avoid being defensive-this will entail continuously building self-awareness and reflection into individual actions. It will also involve focusing on the actions to attain and the conduct for the future regardless of the behavior of the partner (Tamm).

Step 2: Enhance teamwork-this is a very crucial aspect of the workplace. It is easy to spot the defensive behaviors at the workplace and come up with solutions before it gets out of hand.

Lessons from Productive Conflict Resolution

From the lessons in chapter 9, it is important to replace destructive behaviors with compatibility, interdependence, and interactions. Compatibility will be pursuing a central point for the conflicts at the workplace and then find a solution to that effect. Interdependence will exist by working together until behaviors are intertwined. Finally, the interaction will involve all-round communication with all parties to resolve conflicts in the workplace.

Conclusion

It is crucial to understand the dynamics of the workplace to avoid conflicts. It is due to individual fears that they fail to understand other people. Collaboration is an important aspect of building teams in a work situation. Every person should strive to avoid defensive behavior because it makes other colleagues uncomfortable. There are various ways of overpowering defensiveness such as accepting responsibility and validating the response from your partner.

Works Cited

Nichols, William. The Four Horsemen and the Apocalypse: The Restoration. Trafford Publishing. 2012. Print.

Tamm, Jim. Cultivating Collaboration: Don't Be So Defensive!, uploaded by TEDx Talks 26 May 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjSTNv4gyMM