The future is about teams. High performing teams. Every second of every day, someone in the world is working on a team that is going to fail. Team members wondering what happened to our team?
Project leaders tell me that it doesn’t have to be this way, but many organizations don’t want to invest in project management. Executives say it’s their project leaders who are killing their growth and profits. I believe the failure can be blamed on something different than that. I blame it on the people involved, and that’s the good news! What would you invest to make them stronger team members?
People make projects fail. That’s true, but is it fair? If wasn’t for the people on my project, it wouldn’t have failed. It happens so often, it might be a good time to look in the mirror. A long, hard look. What do you see?
Before you put all of the blame on your people, let me ask you this; How much have you invested in making your people stronger team players?
Many of our business systems are broke and failing. Many of your people have already checked out. They are preparing for their retirement. For many, it’s still many years away. They are zombies.
Leaders, what will it take to reengage your people? Teams are made up of people, all kinds of people. So how do we embrace, reenergize, and empower our people?
As importantly, how do we reengage ourselves? How do we get inspired by an unlimited future? There are several qualities we must embrace if we hope to turn this situation around. Let’s start the discussion with how we become stronger team members.
There are several qualities we must embrace to begin turning this around. They lay the foundation of our future. A future where all of us are working on many projects and on a wide range of teams. A future where we are not only team members, but team leaders.
Team members must have courage. Many teams fail because individuals fail to have the courage to say what they think is right. Courage is critical to success in a multi-generational work force. We must be willing to be brave when its required. As a member of a high performing team, you must become courageous in how you deal with yourself and others.
Loyalty is critical to succeeding as a team member. Are you loyal to one another? Loyalty means we are all accountable to each other. Loyalty is a quality that is earned over time. Simply paying a person for what they do does not engender true loyalty. Character is the best way to earn loyalty. Even when it means going against the tide. Your character counts!
Teamwork means all the team members contribute their unique strengths, gifts, and life experiences to help the team thrive. We are willing to share who we are to contribute to our shared results.
Teamwork requires individuals to be aware of what they do best and then look for opportunities to apply these strengths to team efforts. It also requires us to understand what others do well. It’s important we don’t get these two confused.
As team members, we must be willing to help others to develop their skills. We must be willing to develop new skills, as well. Teamwork is an action that we take to help others succeed.
Confidence in not what we do, but who we are. To become a master of your confidence, you must be willing to examine your key capabilities and strengths on a regular basis. True confidence allows you to discern what you do well and what you allow others to do. Then doing what you do well.
To have confidence you must be willing to explore new opportunities with an open mind. Many times, it means applying what you know in new situations. You must be willing to try and try again until success arrives.
The ultimate gift of self-confidence is it can be increased through continuous lifetime learning and personal development. Any person can increase their self-confidence. Successful team members are always learning and taking on new challenges.
It is critical we support new ideas as we develop ourselves and others. The more we embrace these qualities, the more quickly things change. The good news about this process is that you are in control of your own destiny.
Now, we’ve talked about you as a team member. What does it mean to lead a high performing team? Thursday this week, we share several ideas on how to become stronger leaders in our leadership role on teams.
See you Thursday at Market Leadership Journal.