Dale Carnegie of Orange County | Improving Leadership Effectiveness

Batman VS Superman: Are Workplace Misperceptions Destroying Your Teamwork?

In the 2016 film “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” two of DC Comics greatest superheroes went to war over Batman’s misperception of Superman. This led to wasted time, energy, and destruction of resources. Once Batman figured out that Superman was on the same side, they were able to set aside their differences and work together against a common foe, “Doomsday.”

In the workplace, misperceptions and misunderstandings destroy teamwork, waste valuable time/resources and cause unnecessary stress. These misunderstandings come from varied cultural, technical and generational backgrounds and experiences.

While we can never totally eliminate misunderstandings and conflict, we can take steps to FIGHT the things that can cause unhealthy conflict and difficulty accomplishing organizational goals.

FOCUS – Focus the team on the overall goal for the project or organization. Make sure everyone on the team has a clear understanding of their role and deliverables.

INITIATE – Initiate regularly scheduled team meetings to review the status of deliverables, bring questions into the open and clarify matters.

GIVE – Give the team the necessary authority and resources to succeed. People work better when they are not fighting over resources.

HELP – Help the team to express different points of view. A diverse team with different points of view can create a more effective and dynamic team.

TAKE – Take time to get to know each person on the team. People like to talk about their families, hobbies, and ambitions. This allows rapport to build and people work more effectively with people they like and trust.

Teams that FIGHT together become an unstoppable force who can overcome any workplace misperceptions and in turn defeat their competitors.

Scroll to Top