yourselfthat without Lisa or Eric the organization would have to shut its doors, you have positioned Lisa and/or Eric to make your life miserable. And the other members of the team get smaller as they come to understand that they don’t matter as much.
Don’t get me wrong, we need rock stars. But we needthem to figure out how to be team players as well.
Once you have all of these conversations going, youmust go back to the beginning with your leadership team and have a robust discussion about what your values are, how you are all living them out, and the best way to craft interview questions that allow you to find someone who fits those values.
I know a guy who recently started a new job at a great, well-known organization. His second day on the job, he found a lovely glass pyramid on his desk. The person who was taking him through the group orientation explained that the pyramid was engraved with the company’s vision and mission statement, as well as its corporate values. My friend quickly put his hand over the words and asked the guy, “What are the values?”
The trainer couldn’t recite them and was obviously frustrated and embarrassed. Maybe it wasn’t the best thing for my friend to do his second day at work. But he ended up leaving after eighteen months anyway; he found that the organization was not at all aligned with its values, and the only time he ever heard them referred to was during orientation.
Patrick Lencioni has written a great article about this very thing in Harvard Business Review , “Make Your Values Mean Something.” (And after you’ve read that, please read everything Patrick has ever written. And no, I don’t make a dime off of any of that!)
Start working right now with your existing employees and/or volunteers to make sure everyone is a good fit. And at the same time, start to craft a hiring process that increases the number of great-fit people you bring on. This dual process can take a lot of time, but the rewards that you will reap at the end are well worth it. Imagine your organization full of employees who are deeply engaged in, passionate about, and greatly gifted for what they do.
It’s the difference between using a bit and
bridle to steer a wild horse and lighting a fire
to get a mule moving.
It’s the difference between using a bit and bridle to steer a wild horse and lighting a fire to get a mule moving. I have been a bad fit in a number of organizations. The plastic coating company was just one example. I was miserable. I tried really hard. I slacked off and wasted time. I went home feeling guilty, and then came to work the next morning with resolve that wore offbefore the first coffee break. I had no sense of accomplishment. I certainly wasn’t adding value to the organization.
Not good for me, not good for them.
The best leaders talked to me about it. The worst gotangry or avoided me. The very worst didn’t even know.
When an organization is relentless in its pursuit ofpeople who are the right fit, it flourishes. No trash cans full of mistyped forms. As leaders, we owe that to the peopleand organizations we lead.
Teamwork Is a Strategy, not a slogan*
A LOT OF LEADERSHIP writing has been done in the past decadeabout the power of teams. Since I believe so deeply in teams, I have read much of what has been written, and to be honest, most of it is really, really good. Which makes me wonder, why it is that I so rarely encounter really great teams?
Of course, some of that might be because my organization often works with teams in crisis or transition. But we also work with good teams that just want to get better. And even the good teams seem so plagued with divisive and draining issues that they aren’t working anywhere near their potential. Beyond those we work with, I’ve also talked with a lot of people who lead teams or are on teams, and rarely do I hear descriptions of stellar experiences or stories of teams that are both a pleasure to be a part of and
Don’t get me wrong, we need rock stars. But we needthem to figure out how to be team players as well.
Once you have all of these conversations going, youmust go back to the beginning with your leadership team and have a robust discussion about what your values are, how you are all living them out, and the best way to craft interview questions that allow you to find someone who fits those values.
I know a guy who recently started a new job at a great, well-known organization. His second day on the job, he found a lovely glass pyramid on his desk. The person who was taking him through the group orientation explained that the pyramid was engraved with the company’s vision and mission statement, as well as its corporate values. My friend quickly put his hand over the words and asked the guy, “What are the values?”
The trainer couldn’t recite them and was obviously frustrated and embarrassed. Maybe it wasn’t the best thing for my friend to do his second day at work. But he ended up leaving after eighteen months anyway; he found that the organization was not at all aligned with its values, and the only time he ever heard them referred to was during orientation.
Patrick Lencioni has written a great article about this very thing in Harvard Business Review , “Make Your Values Mean Something.” (And after you’ve read that, please read everything Patrick has ever written. And no, I don’t make a dime off of any of that!)
Start working right now with your existing employees and/or volunteers to make sure everyone is a good fit. And at the same time, start to craft a hiring process that increases the number of great-fit people you bring on. This dual process can take a lot of time, but the rewards that you will reap at the end are well worth it. Imagine your organization full of employees who are deeply engaged in, passionate about, and greatly gifted for what they do.
It’s the difference between using a bit and
bridle to steer a wild horse and lighting a fire
to get a mule moving.
It’s the difference between using a bit and bridle to steer a wild horse and lighting a fire to get a mule moving. I have been a bad fit in a number of organizations. The plastic coating company was just one example. I was miserable. I tried really hard. I slacked off and wasted time. I went home feeling guilty, and then came to work the next morning with resolve that wore offbefore the first coffee break. I had no sense of accomplishment. I certainly wasn’t adding value to the organization.
Not good for me, not good for them.
The best leaders talked to me about it. The worst gotangry or avoided me. The very worst didn’t even know.
When an organization is relentless in its pursuit ofpeople who are the right fit, it flourishes. No trash cans full of mistyped forms. As leaders, we owe that to the peopleand organizations we lead.
Teamwork Is a Strategy, not a slogan*
A LOT OF LEADERSHIP writing has been done in the past decadeabout the power of teams. Since I believe so deeply in teams, I have read much of what has been written, and to be honest, most of it is really, really good. Which makes me wonder, why it is that I so rarely encounter really great teams?
Of course, some of that might be because my organization often works with teams in crisis or transition. But we also work with good teams that just want to get better. And even the good teams seem so plagued with divisive and draining issues that they aren’t working anywhere near their potential. Beyond those we work with, I’ve also talked with a lot of people who lead teams or are on teams, and rarely do I hear descriptions of stellar experiences or stories of teams that are both a pleasure to be a part of and
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