Dear friend,
This week I had a wonderful time while training a Microsoft team on the subjects of communication, connection and influence. One of the reasons why these topics are so important is because mastering them allow us to drive the best contribution possible from our team members or partners in our joint projects.
Our individual contributions only improve linearly when we increase our effort, while the team contribution improves exponentially, when each team member improves its contribution. Are you being a good team player and team leader? What may be preventing you from being so?
Improving your individual contribution to a specific project by 20, 30 or 40%, without letting other projects go, may be possible, but very probably will come at a cost for your health and the harmony with your family. On the other side, when you manage to get each team member's contribution increased by only 5 to 10%, the effect gets multiplied and an exponential effect is triggered. How to generate this effect? By understanding what "improving your results" means for your team members or partners and help them do so. Communicate with them, connect with them, so you can increase your (ethical) influence with them. As Zig Ziglar said " You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want."
So, why do we sometimes stand alone instead of leveraging the power of the teamwork? In the "17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork ", John Maxwell shares with us 4 reasons why we may find difficult to engage efficiently on a teamwork experience rather than "killing ourselves to work".
1. Ego: Few people are fond of admitting that they can’t do everything, yet that is a reality of life. There are no supermen or superwomen.
2. Insecurity: Some individuals fail to promote teamwork because they feel threatened by other people. The Law of Empowerment says that "Only secure leaders give power to others". Insecurity (rather than poor judgment or lack of intelligence), most often causes leaders to surround themselves with weak people. The insecure leaders either want to maintain control over everything for which they are responsible, or they fear being replaced by someone more capable.
3. Naïveté: The third type of people who fail to become team builders naively underestimate the difficulty of achieving big things. As a result, they try to go it alone. Some people who start out in this group turn out okay in the end. They discover that their dreams are bigger than their capabilities, they realize they won’t accomplish their goals solo, and they adjust. They make team building their approach to achievement. But some others learn the truth too late, and as a result, they never accomplish
“If I had it to do all over again, I’d get help.” - John Ghegan
4. Temperament: Some people aren’t very outgoing and simply don’t think in terms of team building and team participation. As they face challenges, it never occurs to them to enlist others to achieve something.
“People have been known to achieve more as a result of working with others than against them.” - Dr. Allan Fromme
So my challenge for you this week is:
1. Make a list of the 3 major goals you are working toward achieving right now
2. Now, reflect on how you are working toward these goals. What approach have you been taking to achieve them? Are you going it alone? Or are you building a team to accomplish them?
3. If you’re not trying to be part of a team, figure out why. Is it a matter of ego? Are you insecure? Have you misjudged the size of the challenges? Or does your temperament
incline you to work alone?
4. If you answer yes to one of these questions, work to overcome the difficulty immediately. The sooner you become a team player, the sooner you will be able to achieve your dreams.
So let me know how it goes. I congratulate you for your action and your commitment to become a better leader and for investing on you to secure better results for yourself and your organisation.
To your success,
Ezequiel
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