The Chemistry Connection

Camaraderie & Connectivity

How we relate and work with others relies on our chemistry with them. How we handle our emotions can often help or harm that chemistry. Letting stress get the best of us and snapping at someone certainly isn’t ideal and can result in regrettable ramifications. Similarly, bottling everything up with a fake smile and pretending everything’s okay is no different than Febreezing a foul odor—the problem’s still there, just masked.

Forced positivity can be just as damaging to team chemistry as persistent negativity. The glass isn’t always half full and we should all feel comfortable acknowledging that. Failing to recognize and address problems allows them to fester and grow, while candid communication and conscious management of emotions can help build and support our relationships, as discussed in this podcast with psychologists Adam Grant and Susan David.

Rather than label emotions as good or bad, team well-being can be better served by focusing on how we respond. While few people would voluntarily work alongside a perpetual downer, team performance similarly doesn’t benefit from perpetual positivity or unfocused camaraderie. Though great for rapport, camaraderie isn’t the same as chemistry, as famed sports journalist Joan Ryan emphasizes in this podcast.

While personal relationships can be largely founded on and sustained by emotional connection, team chemistry is also fueled by how we handle our tasks or roles. Trust in one another’s capabilities helps drive performance. Though like friendship, team chemistry is built on trust and bonding—but also a deliberate commitment to the whole instead of the self, as delineated in this clip from the AppleTV series Ted Lasso.

Tools like the SurePeople Prism^® can readily show how and where we fit into our teams and relationships with others, highlighting our unique capabilities and characteristics. Better understanding of ourselves and our teammates illuminates not just which roles and tasks we’re best fit for, but also how we can build the rapport necessary for chemistry.

“The best teams have chemistry. They communicate with each other, and they sacrifice personal glory for a common goal.”
– Dave DeBusschere

Author

by Faraz Gafoor

Faraz Gafoor is a content strategist, writer, and human-data aficionado. His passion for scientific analysis of everything—from the presentation of data to the way we communicate—is driven by a deep love of understanding how we process and make sense of our surroundings. His curiosity and a never-ending search for prolific and poetic perfection poignantly fit his Prism Personality of a double Scientist.