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Hi guys

I have written an article that will be publish in Multilingual magazine in a month or so. Its quite long, so I have decided to break it up into three parts for your reading enjoyment. So here’s part 1…..

Very often in sports you see the interview with the quarterback who just won the Super Bowl or coach who just won the World Cup and they say, it’s all about the team. I could have never done it without this great bunch of guys…. Sports analogies are often overused in business, but if you think about it, it’s true, a championship quarterback or coach really is only as good as his team. Managers in companies need to be equally aware of this. Once you understand that you are only as good as your team, then the next step is to try to figure out what you can do to make your team a champion.

In a translation/localization company, the service that is ultimately provided to the client is heavily dependent on how well employees from different departments with different responsibilities work together. The PM is dependent on the sales person to pass on all relevant information about the project or client. DTP specialists and localization engineers need to have a complete understanding of what the clients localization plans are regarding their product line and how each project or update fits into the greater scheme of things. Everyone needs their computers to work quickly and efficiently, and without viruses, so a good IT department is essential. The company can’t run without money and thus the finance department is indispensable. The list goes on and on, but at the end of the day, what’s important to note is that all employees are dependent on each other for the success and survival of the company and, ultimately, for their jobs.

At Argos we have a mantra — that you won’t find any secretaries in our company. We make it clear that no job is more or less important than another. Everyone has an important job and everyone is a key member of the team.

So, how do you get employees to form a great team that offers the client outstanding customer service while, at the same time, manages to work together in an often highly stressful environment without biting each other’s head off?

Respect thy Neighbor

I believe that the key ingredient to ensure that your people can work well in teams is respect for one another. This might seem like obvious common sense, but as with many things that appear simple, it’s easier said than done.

From day one at Argos, you are taught that you must respect all other employees, regardless of what their job is. As I said, everyone does something important, even if their job is to take out the garbage. Of course, it’s more complex than this. We also do not tolerate office politics, people trying to get ahead at another person’s expense. Many companies try to motivate their employees by encouraging them to compete against each other. The idea behind such a strategy is that, in the end, everyone will work harder. While that might be a good strategy in some businesses, in our business it is counterproductive. We don’t motivate people by telling them to look at how well someone else is doing and then try to do better.

We are actually against such negative competiveness and we go out of our way to make sure employees know that this is something we disapprove of. In extreme cases, we have fired employees who, although productive and hard working, did not follow our policy about how they treated other people.

We take this very seriously in our company, but the end result is that employees at Argos treat each other professionally and with respect. We always tell people that you don’t have to love your co-worker or want to go out for a beer with them, but you have to respect them. We want employees to behave professionally toward each other all the time and our clients also need us to work well together as a team. Respect is the glue that makes the team stick together.