There is room at the table for everyone: 3 lessons I’ve learned from The Office
You know the one. There’s that nerd that drives you crazy at your workplace. There’s that boss who doesn’t seem to get it. You glance across the room to a coworker, and you both roll eyes and laugh together, as if choreographed. The TV series, The Office, is hilarious because it’s so relatable. We’ve experienced the same frustrations in our businesses and organizations. Still, if we can take a minute to understand people better, we’ll see an increase in productivity, employee retention, and even an increase in sales.
Your boss might not be the best leader, but do all you can to help them lead.
I want to make it easy for my boss to lead, because leading is not an easy job. Michael certainly swings between being grossly over-confident to negligent to insecure - all in a matter of minutes. Yet Pam, Jim, and the Dunder Mifflin crew do their best (usually) to help him lead. How can I do the same? Am I willing to stand by good leadership, even if it impacts me negatively at the water cooler? Do I have the patience to let small irritants go, if my boss is doing their best to lead well? How can I lift up and encourage my boss, even when they don’t seem to “need” it?
“Dunder Mifflin certainly was not a trauma-informed business. Michael, the corporate office, and even the staff, at times, had seemingly little patience for the difficult things of life. However, over 8 years, we can see a growing care for each other…”
Nerds know a lot of stuff.
And I have a lot to learn from them. Dwight is a classic nerd with poor social skills and a butt-cut hairstyle. Even as arrogant and annoying as he can be, I have learned more about bears, beets, and Battlestar Galactica than I ever knew before, lol. And if I listen closely, I might even learn something relevant to my life. Aren’t “nerds” many times just people who are different from me? How can I grow as a person as I am around those who don’t think the way I do?
Learn how to encourage someone, without saying a word.
Pam and Jim have mastered the art of a “knowing glance.” Being able to communicate without words, literally kept them sane during endless hours of tedious work. I want to master this as well. I want to be able to look across the room, into the eyes of someone-needing-encouragement, and say, “You are seen and known.”
Dunder Mifflin certainly was not a trauma-informed business. Michael, the corporate office, and even the staff, at times, had seemingly little patience for the difficult things of life. However, over 8 years, we can see a growing care for each other.
In the real business world, having patience and grace for my co-workers makes the workplace a better environment…it makes my workplace an environment that I might actually enjoy. This is what James Trail is all about: let’s grow our businesses and organizations towards empathy. Let’s remove barriers to working relationships to show that there’s room at the table for everyone.
