All in Teams
We tend to romanticize the path to success. We maintain this perception that getting there was a straight-forward path. Particularly when we see others achieve it. This view that these folks took step 1, then step 2, and so on and so forth, until they achieved what they set out to do. That it was a clean path. That things just happened for them.
The truth is…
I have an out-of-state friend I've met in-person only once but have stayed in touch with via social media ever since. Every so often, we'll message each other, usually with regards to something we posted on FaceBook.
During one recent exchange…
A few years ago, Professor Jens Krause at the University of Leeds conducted numerous experiments where he and his team asked groups of people to walk randomly around a large hall. Unbeknownst to the majority, a few individuals were given specific instructions as to where they should walk. No one in the group (informed or otherwise) was allowed to communicate (verbal or non-verbally) and everyone had to stay within arms length of each other.
As I wrote in my post on Monday, it's all about the team. No matter who or how many stars you have, their success - our success - depends predominantly on the ability of team to deliver as a cohesive unit.
But there is a critical lesson for all us in the mentality, the mindset of the star performer.
Guys like Michael Jordan are the "Go-To" guys on their teams.
If there's a need for a result, a change of pace or a game change, then you would pass the ball to Mike and let him do his magic.
We don’t work alone. We weren’t meant to. We’re not wired that way, we really don’t think that way and we certainly don’t get things done purely by ourselves in any practical sense.
"We don't lower our standards. We raise the bar and bring our people with us."
We have a couple of choices when it comes to dealing with performance problems within our team, in those times when we lack capability alignment, a consensus of will, or moral cohesion.
I'm a reasonably open book. I like to think that I'm pretty transparent about what I think, how I feel and what I believe.
If I like something, I'm not hesitant about sharing my love for that thing. If I don't like something, for example, how an individual is behaving, I'll say that as well. (I'll try and find the right time and approach, of course, but I generally prefer not to leave things unsaid. Particularly if they are someone I need to have some sort of relationship with.)
Change is the one thing, in addition to death and taxes, that you can count on.
Whether in our personal or professional lives, after a while, you can count on the fact that the way things are cannot be the way things stay. Especially if the goal is to evolve in any sort of positive, developmental fashion.
Think. Plan. Commit. Work hard. Assess. Evaluate. Redirect.
We're taught that if we want to achieve success, those are the essential steps we need to follow. That if are to be successful, we must be methodical, diligent and direct. That it's all down to us.
Emotion, in business, is not a dirty word. It's the natural by-product of passion.
Passion is not a sign of naivety. It's an essential ingredient for success.
When working with a team member, it's important to gauge whether the issue they're exhibiting is fixable or not. And the question to ask, in this regard, is whether it's a values-based problem or a content-based development issue?
I once worked on a project with someone who I found to be very difficult to partner with. There were a number of reasons for it - part working style, part communication, part differing perspectives on the task at hand.
When we refer to "marketing bullshit" within our own organizations, it's usually because there are one of two problems at play (sometimes both).
The first, as I discussed in my last post, is that our sales and marketing communications are off. We aren't being honest, we aren't being forthright. We aren't speaking with integrity.
We should argue.
Seriously.
We should argue.
So long as it's about the content. So long as our intent is positive. So long as we're...
If you went to Mick Jagger and asked him to conduct specific analyses using a spreadsheet, and he wasn't able to do what was needed, wouldn't you say he isn't very smart? Or let's say you knew Warren Buffett and required him to produce a logo for one of his portfolio companies, but he wasn't able to...
“The real world isn’t a place – it’s an excuse. It’s a justification for not trying.” (Rework, Jason Fried & David Heinenmeier Hansson)
What's your role?
The curate (clergy who are assistants to a parish priest) is eating breakfast at his bishop's house.
The bishop says to him, "I'm afraid you've got a bad egg, Mr Jones."
The curate does not want to offend his host (and ultimate boss), responds,
