I've been a better employee, I've been a happier employee and I've given more to my job in those instances. Welcome to the Only Child Diaries podcast. I'm your host, Tracy Wallace. Have you ever felt like you didn't receive the how-to brochure on life, that you didn't get enough guidance about major life issues? So did I. You don't have to be an only child to feel this way. In my podcast, we'll explore some of the best ways to better navigate adulting, while doing so with humor and light. Welcome everyone to the Only Child Diaries podcast.

Today, I'm going to talk about teamwork. It's a very important concept. Whether you are working working or part of a family, I guess, or part of any group. Really, teamwork is integral to the success of any group of people that are working together towards a common goal. Now, this last week, I was working on the well. It wasn't just this last week. It was working on the well. It wasn't just this last week, it was the last Well, two or three months especially, I've been working on an event, a fundraising event that took place this last week, and a fundraising event and if you're a regular listener, you know that I've talked about this on and off through the course of my discussions with you.

A fundraising event is a lot of work, but in the scope of things with an organization, a fundraising event is important because it helps diversify your funding sources so that you're able to bring in new donors or you're able to cultivate the donors that you already have. So, even though events are usually very, very heavy on the hours in relationship to the return on investment, they are important for several reasons and you get that face-to-face commitment, that face-to-face interaction with your donors, which is very important. I also found myself at various points, especially in the last two weeks, ready to pull my hair out. I worked a lot of hours. My job is usually 30 hours a week. I was definitely working 40 hours a week, but really the last two weeks it was closer to 50 hours a week, because there's just too much to do, too much to finish, and I'm the kind of person you could call me an overachiever. And what does that mean? Well, that means that I really take a lot of time and effort to make sure that everything is smooth, everything is right and everything is. You know, I'm very detailed, so I want to make sure that everything is perfect. But when you do an event, a fundraising event. You know that not everything can be perfect. There's going to be glitches, but my goal is always to make it as perfect as I possibly can. So I work a lot. I put a lot of time and effort into things that you know. Hopefully it shows I'm not going to say what we raised, but we almost beat the all time record.

Um, this was the fourth annual. There was one event before this, um, that was the 50th anniversary celebration, and that was the highest grossing so far. This is not anywhere close to the events that I used to do in my last job, my last position. We successfulness to come, so starting to put these things in place, but what I realized is the teamwork is really an integral part of the event putting on the event. Because, because nobody is able to put, no matter how super human you are, no matter how much you work, how many hours you put in and how much of a perfectionist you are like me, there's no way that one person could do everything themselves. It's just it's not possible. And even if it's a small event, you just it's not possible. So I did work within a team, but I started to think today about how this organization handles and how teamwork manifests itself within this organization and how I've been trying to increase the level of teamwork that I feel and that I see, at least in my small scope, my small little subset of the world in this organization. So I wanted to talk about that today because I think it's important and I think it's something that nobody I mean nobody's ever talked to me about. It's something that I came up with all by myself and it's just something that I've observed within different situations. Right, and the difference that it makes. So teamwork, I think, is very important. Now, this organization is larger than any nonprofit that I've ever worked with, besides when I worked at USC. Of course, that's a different animal, that is a nonprofit, but it's huge. It's a huge university, university. But in terms of the staff of this nonprofit there's different locations and there's no way that I'm going to get to know everybody or work with everybody. There's different departments and that's just not the thing. But within the people that I could see every day if I went into the office Because, again, I work remote and when you work remote I think it's a little bit harder to feel like part of a team, at least in my immediate department, which is fundraising or development.

I do feel part of the team. I feel like we have a common goal, obviously, and I feel like we communicate. And what I realized is that teamwork, a lot of teamwork, is communication, because when you're in a situation where you don't feel like there's teamwork, often you think about it there's teamwork. Often you think about it there's no communication. Right, the two do go hand in hand, teamwork and communication. But I started thinking about ways that I've tried to build rapport and a team spirit with the people that I encounter when I do go into the office, and they're not necessarily in my quote unquote department, but there's still people that I'm going to interact with occasionally, or when I do an event, or when I do an event or when I do other things within the scope of my job. So I started thinking about that today. So let's talk about it. So communication is one.

I think that building the team, sometimes you have to look at the corporate culture of the organization, right, and how is that set up? And I think it's harder when you come into an organization and you're the new kid, right? Unless somebody takes you under their wing and kind of shows you the ropes and tells you how things work, and if somebody tells you how they work, you have to figure and hope that they're right about the things that they tell you. That's pretty important, but having somebody kind of show you the ropes and help you along in that regard does really help. But I think part of it is also that you have to make your own way, and some of the things that I've done to kind of make my own way is to realize, first of all, that I'm coming in and I'm changing things, changing the way things are done, at least in my area of responsibility, and that's going to cause some ruffled feathers and that's going to cause some problems, and that's just how it is.

And you have to be patient with people and you have to communicate again, communicate how and what you're doing Right To make people feel more comfortable, okay. You also have to take the time to remember that these are people Right. And so, just like you know how I preach about fundraising and success in fundraising, I always talk about build a relationship. You know, don't just go out and ask, don't just meet somebody and ask them right away for something Like you wouldn't go on a date and ask them to marry you right away. You just you don't meet somebody and ask them for a big gift right away. You build a relationship. And ask them for a big gift right away, you build a relationship. So when you're trying to build teamwork I think a lot of the time it's the same thing you should try to build a relationship with that person you know, in an appropriate way, in a work way, not necessarily a very personal way. Don't get into personal stuff, but build a relationship. Find some commonality, find something that you can compliment the person on right Whether it's, you know, maybe, the shirt they're wearing or the way they do their job and ask them about how they got into this job, how they feel about the job, what they think are the challenges of the job, and that will endear you to them. They'll probably be easier to deal with.

One thing that I think is very important in trying to build a relationship and to try to build a sense of camaraderie and teamwork is humor. I try to use humor whenever possible because I think it makes people feel comfortable with me a little bit more. It kind of breaks down the defenses, if there are any, and it gives me a sense of how best to communicate with them. And if I try to use humor with somebody and they don't laugh, well then I know I have to try a different route and it's going to be a little bit more of a challenge. Maybe the person doesn't have that same sense of humor that I do, maybe they're a little bit more literal, and that's always a challenge for me. When people are literal, I make a joke and they'll say what do you mean by that? It's like, oh, okay, well, never mind, I'm sure that you've all met people like that. Just, I wasn't trying to be literal, just figuratively, right, figuratively, I'm just saying so, okay, it's challenging, sometimes it's challenging.

And just remember that you're not always going to be able to crack everyone at first. You're going to have to get to know them and they're going to have to get to know you. And sometimes you have to go a little bit out of your way to show that you're there to help them in their job. You're there to be a team member on their side, right? You're not just looking for somebody to help bolster you and bolster your job responsibilities. That you're there to help them and pitch in and be a yes, team player. It's very important.

I think that when I've felt like I'm a member of the team, I've been a better employee, I've been a happier employee and I've given more to my job in those instances than when I feel like I'm not a member of the team. I mean, it's the same thing. It's very, it's very, important to remember all these lessons. So I'm wondering how do you build teamwork? How important is teamwork in the things that you do every day? And I think that teamwork, really to an only child, is something that we have to really think about. It has to really right. It's hard to resonate. It's not something that maybe comes naturally to us because we didn't grow up being a member of a team, right, siblings? Or maybe we didn't feel like a member of the team, maybe we felt like we were a loner and maybe you didn't feel like a member of the team at school, or maybe you didn't consider yourself a team with your parents or whoever right. It's something that is more foreign to us as only children, but I think it's an important skill to have. If we don't have it, it's an important skill to learn. So that's what I've got for you today. Next week, we'll tackle another topic together. I hope you'll join me If you like this episode, please follow the Only Child Diaries podcast on Apple Podcasts or other platforms you might listen on and consider rating Only Child Diaries and writing a review.

It helps others to find us. Please share it with a friend you think might like it as well. Visit my Instagram page Only Child Diaries or Facebook Only Child Diaries Podcast. Thanks for listening. I'm Tracy Wallace and these are the Only Child Diaries.