This is how you build a cohesive team:
I work with a small staff team of 8 that is a small part of an agency that has over 1500 employees and twice that number of volunteers.
The people I work with are some of the finest people I have ever known and we all share a common goal of improving the lives of disabled individuals. I have my own agenda in that much of my time is spent in working to improve working conditions, wages, and benefits and to date I have had great success in changing certain policies.
We support each other professionally and in personal matters, we are like an extended family to one another.
Our work is not always sunshine and puppies and over the years we have all faced professional and personal setbacks and tragedies.
We have had our disagreements and had some fights but through all of this we remain committed to what we do and to each other.
Scheduled team building exercises are simply a waste of time as they try to do in hours what we have accomplished over years.
Of the people I work with, 5 are women and three are men. Among us we have 1 aboriginal woman, 1 woman from Poland, 1 from Chile, 1 from Germany, and one from Britain. Of the men we have 1 from the Phillipines, 1 from Etiopia, and me… the only natural born, non aboriginal, Canadian.
Our colours range from my own pasty white to my very dark skinned Ethiopian co-worker. We have 5 Catholics, 1 Muslim, and 1 Agnostic. Our ages range from 34 to 64 and all but 1 of the women I work with are now grandmothers.
A number of us are in mixed marriages and relationships. For example… I am the only white perons in my family
We can even talk openly about politics and religion as we share a mutual respect of the other person’s belief system. We have agreed to disagree and in the process have learned a great deal about other cultures and beliefs.
And now they say we need to take diversity training.
There’s some more hours of my life that I will never get back.