I will never forget an experience I had several months back. I was asked to provide some consulting and development for a highly dysfunctional senior leadership team. We were discussing some of the morale issues their staff was having when one of the senior leaders said “I don’t think morale and motivating people really matters. Given the way things are people should just be lucky they have a job.”
leadership
Each “ant member” has a role to play in the colony (team). And each colony can’t survive very well without its leader (the queen). When teams are formed and even after they have existed for a period of time, it is necessary that each team member understand and be reminded in relation to their role and how they contribute to the team and the organization’s goals.
With a little creative thought maybe we could come up with an inventive way to increase productivity in our own workplace. After all, as this video demonstrates, if you can find a way for people to pick up trash (not even their own trash) in a park, surely we could create ways for employees to become more productive by having fun as well.
One of our jobs as leaders is to inspire. Whether that is in our homes, volunteer work or business, our job is to inspire others to do greater things than they realize they are capable of doing or achieving. I love this video of Nick Vujicic, who was born without limbs, who is faced with challenges and obstacles every day. Nick is a leader. I hope this video will inspire you today, as it has me.
Lack of accountability can be a big obstacle on teams. On many teams only the leader holds team members accountable. But on high performing teams, the team members hold each other accountable. When team members are focused on the results together, they are more likely to hold one another accountable. This is very common on sports team.
