Whether or not someone is a quitter is found in their character and work ethic. This judgement may make some uncomfortable but it’s pretty easy to spot and every team must consider if they want to take someone along that isn’t capable of the effort necessary to succeed. Quitting is an indicator of whether or not someone
Every leader must consider the will of the team. Competency and chemistry are important, but the character of an individual must be considered when someone is asked to travel down a particularly difficult path. I have found that people can intellectually agree with a concept but when the “rubber meets the road” and the amount of actual
Circumstances can have a way of creating opportunities for leaders to compromise direction. Challenges will always come along the path worth taking. Those that don’t lead can often form opinions about a direction based on the challenges inherent in the chosen path. Perhaps the direction isn’t popular and a particular challenge is all the the proof someone
Leadership is difficult and takes a serious and disciplined mind to be consistently successful. The emotions of any worthwhile endeavor require a person with the discipline to identify what is a big deal and what isn’t a big deal. Just because a siren is blaring, doesn’t mean there is a fire. It takes discipline to spot a
Every leader shares authority with those they lead. The keyword is share. People forget that word too often. Micromanaging leaders own too much authority and distant leaders abdicate too much authority. Teams can get this wrong when they expect full autonomy from their leader. This expectation of complete emancipation is the other side of the micromanaging coin.
Ideally people would want to be trusted to do their job their way. This works out when people are committed to the same level of quality and share the same expectations as the rest of the team. Unfortunately, when we are left to evaluate ourselves, we don’t always see the opportunities to improve. We need another perspective
Great teammates can give input without the expectation of getting their way every time. They understand that their influence is a part of the decision making process even if it’s not represented topographically in the actual decision that is made. All ideas are not good ideas but even bad ideas influence the path toward the idea that
This is an important question to answer before a moment of adversity. If everyone can agree that someone has a final decision, everyone doesn’t have to agree. Leaderless teams or teams that lack decision-makers have to settle on unanimous votes before they can move forward. I say settle because the alternative is an argument of competing interests
When teams do not have a clear authority structure, they do not have a clear resource structure. Everyone should know exactly who to talk to when they need something. Operating under authority comes with the benefit of having a place outside of ourselves to get resources from. When we link the idea of authority providing resources, we
Every team has an authority structure. Some teams have an ambiguous structure that doesn’t clearly define who reports to who. Other teams operate in a way that clearly identifies who is responsible for what and who reports to who. This clarity in authority is vital in moments of conflict, accountability, and adversity.