Team Number One The only way for a leader to establish this collective mentality on a team is by ensuring that all members place a higher priority on the team they're a member of than the team they lead in their departments. A good way to go about this is simply to ask them which team is their first priority. I've found that many well-intentioned executives will admit that in spite of their commitment to the team that they're a member of, the team they lead is their first priority. They'll point out that they hired their direct reports, they sit near them and spend more time with them every day, and they enjoy being the leader of that team. Moreover, they feel a sense of loyalty to the people they manage, and feel that those people want and need their protection. This is absolutely natural, common, and understandable. And dangerous.
American writer
American writer
Born: 1965
Native Name:
Patrick M. Lencioni
From Wikidata (CC0)
Adrenaline addiction The unwillingness or inability of busy people to slow down and review, reflect, assess, and discuss their business and their team. An adrenaline addiction is marked by anxiety among people who always have a need to keep moving, keep spinning, even in the midst of obvious confusion and declining productivity
As important as it is for all members of a leadership team to commit to being vulnerable, that is not going to happen if the leader of the team, whether that person is the CEO, department head, pastor, or school principal, does not go first. If the team leader is reluctant to acknowledge his or her mistakes or fails to admit to a weakness that is evident to everyone else, there is little hope that other members of the team are going to take that step themselves. In fact, it probably wouldn't be advisable for them to do so because there is a good chance that their vulnerability would be neither encouraged nor rewarded.
No matter how many times executives preach about the "e" word in their speeches, there is no way that their employees can be empowered to fully execute their responsibilities if they don't receive clear and consistent messages about what is important from their leaders across the organization. There is probably no greater frustration for employees than having to constantly navigate the politics and confusion caused by leaders who are misaligned. That's because just a little daylight between members of a leadership team becomes blinding and overwhelming to employees one or two levels below.