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The strength of the Team is impacted by its weakest link!

On March 24, 1989, the news broke that an environmental disaster had occurred in Alaska’s Prince William Sound. The oil tanker Exxon Valdez had ran aground on the Bligh Reef, damaging 8 or the 11 cargo tanks. As a result 10.8 million of the ships 83 million gallons of oil poured into the sea.

The economic damage shut down tourism and fishing in the area. The environment lost approximately 250,000 seabirds, 2800 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, 250 bald eagles, 22 killer whales, and an immeasurable loss of food in the ocean chain of life.

Exxon lost $2.2 billion in cleanup costs, $300 million in claims paid, and $1 billion in state and federal settlements

When it comes to teamwork….

Not everyone will take the journey – the reason vary from rootedness to attitude to status quo.

Not everyone should take the journey – your team should not be someone’s agenda for their life at a given point in time to accomplish their goals. Wish them well and show them the pathway off of your team

Not everyone can take the journey – not everyone is capable of being on your team. They may not be able to keep pace with other team mates to accomplish the larger goals of the team

If you cannot help a weak link in the chain of your team find another place, here are some things that might happen when they are allowed to remain.

The stronger members will identify the weaker one – Strong people on your team will always know who is not holding up their end of the deal. Weak individuals cannot hide around strong team members.

The stronger members will have to help the weaker ones – If you people must work together as a team in order to get anything accomplished, then you only have two choices. Ignore the weaker members or help them so the team can be more successful.

The stronger members will come to resent the weaker member – Regardless of whether the stronger members help or not the outcome is usually the same – RESENTMENT!

The stronger members will become less effective – Anytime you have to carry your work and someone else’s work as well, you run the risk of compromising performance. Over time the whole team will suffer

The stronger members of a team will begin to question the leaders ability – Anytime a leader allows a weaker team member to remain part of the team, others are forced to compensate for the weak member. As a leader you risk loosing respect from your team and performance will suffer.

The bottom line is that a team cannot cover up its weaknesses!

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Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!