Every teammate has a liability that can limit the team. Not every liability has to be a limitation. Teammates that are self-aware of their own liabilities are valuable because they can own the need for other teammates to transcend what they are not capable of alone. Their liability is covered by the rest of the team when
People who refuse to lower their standards fail often. They fail so often that they learn that failure is a friend they shouldn’t be ashamed of being associated with. They get frustrated with the status quo and they believe that the impossible can be done. They surround themselves with people that also believe in the impossible and
People who have never truly been successful have been transformed into skeptics of success. Their dry spell has caused them to lower their standards and disbelieve in the validity of the success of others. “They couldn’t really achieve what I have come to realize doesn’t really exist. If that elusive success is real, then why haven’t I
Experience transforms us. Some people are changed into someone who will “never do that again” based on some unpleasant experience in the past. Others on the team understand the way a victory can erase the pain and scars that it took to achieve it. Both types have a hard time understanding the other. One doesn’t see the
Freedom of thought is scary, but it’s the only way to break out of the self imposed prison of fear. Freedom to fail is a freedom to learn. Take that away and the only learning that occurs is how to avoid the judgement of those that see failure as something to be maligned. I was once in
When the preservation of identity is the goal of planning, then dissent is not encouraged and is often demonized. The result is an echo chamber with unspoken ideas held captive by the control that comes with the preservation of identity. The team seems to be unified verbally but the thought life is ripe with resentment that results
Winning requires a ruthlessness that not everyone can stomach. That is where the whole “nice guys finish last” idea comes from. I am not advocating being a jerk towards other people in order to win. I am advocating eliminating the excuses that “nice” people indulge in and allow their team to indulge in so that they can
It does a team little good to aim for something that they don’t have the nerve to accomplish. Everyone wants the shiny championship ring except when it requires more effort than we are willing to put out. Everyone wants to say that they want effectiveness except when effective practices challenge who they see themselves becoming. Training and
I have been on teams that were innovative and I have been on teams that thought they were. Interestingly, some of those teams had some of the same people on them. In hindsight, the difference was that there was a freedom of thought and emotional security on the innovative team. The other team seemed to try to
Great teammates are always tested by adversity. How much adversity can a person handle? Am I the type of person that works hard to eliminate adversity? Am I the type of person that expects it and knows how to handle it? Am I the type of person to cut and run every time the going gets tough