Everyday Drills
Whether in a sport, at a job, or in a family, everyone everywhere is part of a team. The Everyday Drills blog is designed to create a moment each morning where we are intentional about becoming better teammates and team leaders. Subscribe for thoughtful ways for you and your team to be challenged each and every day.
It’s not enough to agree to disagree…
All of us disagree with some portion of the team’s decided direction at some point. My quality as a teammate is best determined in my choices after a disagreement. Can I execute a plan that I disagree with? Is my cooperation and civility contingent on my agreement or the agreement of others? Part of the role of a great teammate is how we support those we choose to be around without condition, the obvious exception being if something is abusive, illegal, or violates our conscience.
Pace is Important
It is important to make sure that the direction is clearly defined and that everyone has a chance to get behind it. Moving too fast and assuming everyone is excited about the direction is a mistake many leaders make. When the team is not given a chance to talk through the direction, they miss the chance to hear why the direction makes sense to the rest of the team or leadership. This is an easy mistake because leaders often either feel entitled to buy-in or project their own buy-in onto the rest of the team. Either way, the leader must take the time to pitch the vision of a direction in a way that helps others find points they can agree with and support.
Voting equals tolerance, not unity.
Not every team needs to function as a democracy. Voting that results in a non-unanimous outcome only asks the losing side to acquiesce to something they voted against. How does that promote team unity? Why not allow the naysayers to opt into a direction they oppose rather than powering through on the premise of majority rule? Every team member should be given the opportunity to sign up again.