The focused teammate is vital because they help the team cut through the distractions that can slow team progress. They are the ones that keep conversations and meetings on track. They can seem cut throat and cold hearted at times but they make the team better by reminding them to stay on track in the moment. Teams
Teams that consistently win have figured out how to make winning a way of life and not just a culminating event. We win when we overcome. How many people live their whole life in a state of compromise because they think that winning is far off? Winning can be found in every moment we choose not to
When we don’t see teammates as real people, we are more likely to leave them behind in our wake of progress. It’s easy to write someone off as not on board when we don’t really know them enough to care about alternate possibilities. Perhaps someone in their life has a serious health problem and it’s a huge
Teammates need help to choose to belong. When I first join a team, I am looking closely to how everyone behaves so that I can assimilate into the culture as best I can. Training is a great jumpstart to that process. Leaving a new teammate to “figure it out” like the rest of us is just mean.
Seeing things through the lens of art AND science helps a team embrace the objective AND subjective aspects of their tasks and problem-solving quests. Teams that reject science feel their way through life. They rely on their gut and some form of mysticism to decide the questions of who, what, where, when, why, and how. They miss
There is something about a teammate that has a reputation to get things done. These are people that see the world as it is and don’t see the world as it should be. When we allow the sentiment of “should” to cloud our vision, we are on the path to excuse and not solution. Teammates that get
There is a spectrum of teams when it comes to attention to detail. The extreme ends of the spectrum include those that are completely legalistic and those that are complete lackadaisical. Both have their justicifications but both tend to get distracted. Legalistic teams get distracted by the details and rules and miss the point too often. Lackadaisical
If I don’t think that I am an exception to best practices, why don’t I sleep eight hours every night and drink enough water throughout the day? Sleeping and drinking water are probably the easiest thing to do in America and I can be too prideful to get that right. I challenged myself to drink more water
Best practices are easy to learn. Anyone can do an internet search to find various methods to achieve anything. As the cartoons of my youth taught me, knowing is only half the battle. We have to believe that the best practice applies to our situation. Unfortunately, my pride can cause me to think that a best practice
When someone leaves a position of authority, it is important to transition that authority to a new person so that everyone involved knows who is now responsible. Just as important is training the person with the new responsibility to handle that authority well. Authority that is given without additional training is like handing a drivers license to