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All players have a place where they add the most value

We have all experienced being on teams in where people had taken on roles that did not suit their skill set. What happens to the team in which one or more players are out of position. I believer there are several things that are obvious:

• Morale erodes
• Resentfulness because of poor performance
• Being overlooked when you know you have the talent
• Unwillingness to work as a team
• Confidence erodes
• Competitors take advantage of the obvious weaknesses

This is the Law of the Niche – everyone should be in their proper place in order to function as a high capacity team.

Having the right people in the right places is essential to team building. High capacity teams will change according to the placement of people. Notice:

• The wrong person in the wrong place = Regression
• The wrong person in the right place = Frustration
• The right person in the wrong place = Confusion
• The right person in the right place = Progression
• The right people in the right places = Multiplication

To be able to place each person on the team correctly there are a few obvious points that leaders should not overlook.

You Must Know The Team – You cannot build high capacity teams without knowing the vision, purpose, or culture. If you are unsure as a leader where you are going then any road will take you somewhere. One thing is for sure, you cannot lead a team to its fullest potential until you are clear on vision, purpose, and culture.

You Must Know The Situation – you might clear on the vision, purpose, and culture but understand that situations constantly change. Discerning the situation requires a keen awareness of your surroundings. As teams mature and become mature and adept a leader can then begin to focus on fine-tuning the talent pool and placement into specializations.

You Must Know The Players – It almost seems overly simplistic, but yet it is important – Know the people on your team! Leadership is about assisting people to find their place not getting them to conform to you image! Team members should show respect t leaders, but leaders should not expect team members to be carbon copies of their actions and thought process. Every person has a unique skill set and nuance to bring to the table of discussion.

With these three key things stated regarding leaders, what about your role as a team member? Here are five suggestions.

Be Secure – No amount of personal competency compensates for personal insecurity (Wayne Schmidt). If you allow your insecurities to get the better part of you, you will become inflexible and reluctant to change. In order to grow, you must be willing to change!

Get To Know Yourself – You most likely never discovery your niche without taking time to learn about your strengths and weaknesses. There are various assessment tools to help you. Do a 360 report on yourself that allows others to speak freely and openly into your life.

Trust Your Leader – A good leader will help you start moving in the right direction. If you do not trust your leader, seek the counsel of another mentor or get on another team.

See The Big Picture – Your position on the team only makes sense within the context of the Big Picture. If you discover your personal niche for personal gain only – you are preventing your own progress and you have poor motivation.

Rely on Your Experience – When it comes down to it, the only way to know that you have discovered your niche is to try what seems right and learn from our failures and successes. When you find your place you will say, “there is no place like this place anywhere near this place, so this must be the place!”

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If you think that you are the entire picture, you will never see the big picture!

The goal is more important than the role

In a culture that sings the praises of individual gold medal winners and where people fight for their rights instead of focusing on taking responsibility, people tend to lose sight of the big picture. Everything seems to rotate around their needs, their goals, and their desires.

If a team is to reach its potential, each player must be willing to subordinate his personal goals to the good of the team – Bud Wilkinson.

Leaders at the highest level understand the Law of The Big Picture. They continually keep the vision of the big picture before themselves and their people.

“Everyone on a championship team doesn’t get publicity, but everyone can say he’s a champion” – Magic Johnson

What’s up with Big Picture Team?

So how do people start to become a more unified team? How do individuals make a shift from independent people to team player who exemplify the Law of the Big Picture? It does not happen over night. It takes time. Here are six ways to get started.

Look Up At The Big Picture – Everything starts with vision. You need to have a goal. Without one you cannot have a team. The great Hall of Fame catcher, Yogi Berra once stated, “If you do not know where you are going, you will end up somewhere else.” If you are a leader, then your role is to do what only you can do. Paint the big picture for your followers. Without the vision they will not find the desire to achieve the goal.

Size Up the Situation – One value of seeing the big picture is that it helps you recognize how far you really are from achieving it. Sometimes seeing the gulf between what is and where we need to go can be intimidating. But people who are determined to build strong teams, seeing the size of the task doesn’t worry them. These leaders do not shrink from the task, but embrace the challenge.

Line Up Needed Resources – It has been said that it is alright to aim high if you have plenty of ammunition. That is what resources are – ammunition to reach big goals. If you do not have the appropriate equipment, it does not matter what kind of team you are on. The better resourced a team is the fewer the distractions the team will encounter.

Call Up The Right Players – You can have the a distinct vision, a precise plan, plenty of resources, and incredible leadership. If you do not have the right players on your team, you are not going anywhere. You can lose good players, but you cannot win with bad players!

Give Up Personal Agendas – Winning teams have players that asked, What is the best for the rest? Ray Kroc, founder of McDonalds stated, No one of us is more important than the rest of us.”

Step Up To A Higher Level – Only players come together and give up their own agendas can a team move up to a higher level. That is the sacrifice required for teamwork. Nietzsche once stated, “Many are stubborn in pursuit of the path they have chosen, few in pursuit of the goal.”

When you see the big picture correctly, you serve the team more quickly.

LINKS

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As much as we enjoy solo achievement, the truth is that no lone individual has done anything of value. The belief that one person can do something great is a myth.

Albert Einstein – “Many times a day I realize how much my outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellow men, both living and dead and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received.”

Economist Lester Thurow – “…In America, halls, of fame exist for almost every conceivable activity, but nowhere do we raise monuments in praise of teamwork.”

President Lyndon Johnson – “There are no problems that we cannot solve together, and very few that we can solve by ourselves.”

Gene Wilkes in his book Jesus on Leadership observed the power of teams has deep history within biblical times. He notes that ….

• Teams involve more people, thus affording more resources, ideas, and energy than an individual.
• Teams maximize a leader’s potential and minimize their weaknesses. Strengths and weaknesses are more exposed in individuals.
• Teams provide multiple perspectives on how to meet needs and accomplish goals.
• Teams share the victories and the blame for losses.
• Teams keep leaders accountable for the goal.
• Teams simply can out perform any individual.

So here is the million dollar question for you – Why do we stand alone? Knowing as much as we do about teams people still choose to do things by themselves. Let us consider some reasons why.

EGO – Few people are fond of admitting that they can do everything, yet that is the reality. Perhaps the question according to INJOY Team member Kerry Walls is not whether you can do everything, but how quickly you will realize that you are going to realize that can’t. Andrew Carnegie stated once that it marks a big step in your development when you realize that other people can help you do a better job than you can do alone.

INSECURITY – People who are insecure tend to surround themselves with other people who are weak decision makers. Niccolo Machiavelli stated that to test the strength of a leader is to take inventory of the strength of the individuals that surrounds the leader.

NAIVETE’ – Consultant John Ghegan says, “If I had to do it all over again, I would ask for help.” When you refuse to become a team member you tend to bite off more than you chew. They naively under estimate the difficulty of achieving big things. The end result is that your goals are never achieved. That is sad!

TEMPERAMENT – Some people are not just outgoing and it never occurs to them to think in terms of a team. They just do not think to ask for help from others. Why take a journey alone when you could ask others to join? Dr. Fromme quipped that people have been know to accomplish more working with others than against them. Charles Swindoll wrote since none of us is a whole independent, self-sufficient, super-capable, all-powerful hot shot, lets quit acting like we are. Life is lonely enough without playing that silly role.

Take a sheet of paper and write down three major goals that you are working toward achieving right now? After you have done this take a few moments and reflect on these goals –

• What approach have you been taking to achieve them?
• Are you going alone?
• Are you building a team to accomplish these goals?
• If you are not part of team, take some time to figure out WHY?

LINKS

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Every generation gets an opportunity to make a difference, but the people of that generation have to seize that opportunity. John F. Kennedy often was quoted as saying “There are those who look at things as they are and ask Why? I dream of things that never were and ask, WHY NOT!”

Opportunities do not multiply because they are seen. Opportunities in life multiply because they are seized. This is why living with a sense of urgency is crucial. The saying “you can make a difference at any time, but the best time is now” is what drives people who possess anticipation and live with intentionality. There is no time like the present. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. Yesterday is too late. Intentional living is a lifestyle, a way of thinking, there is something more that I can do.

Ralph Waldo Emerson stated “you cannot do a calling too soon for you never know how soon it will be too late.” I want to give you five ways to seize opportunities.

Be the first to help someone – Ask yourself this question; who were the first three people to step into your life during a crisis or special need in your life? If I am right, you probably cannot remember the name of the second or third person. WHY? The only people that really make a difference are the first people to step into our life.

The people who most often make the biggest difference are the people who are first to step up and help at a time when if makes a difference.

Take a risk when the potential for significance is high – This is an area in which people most often regret the chances they failed to take, not the chances they took that failed. Do not allow fear of risk to cripple you into immobility. Nothing ever is accomplished without a certain amount of risk!

Do what you know is right even with no promise of return – We tend to judge opportunities by the potential return. That for the most part is sound business practice. However there are things in life that present themselves and we know they are right. What we do not know is the outcome and where this will lead. Remember the return on giving is always higher than what we give.

If you maintain a sense of urgency and obey your instinct to do the right thing, especially when it plays to your strengths, it may very well have a higher return than you could have imagined.

Give to your peers at a time when it makes a difference – Condoleezza Rice after her career in the highest places of government when back to the classroom to teach college freshmen. She qualified her decision by stating; “The classroom is the molder of the opinions of lives of people. I came back because if I can change a nineteen year old’s life, that is much more significant than what I was doing because I get them on the front end.”

Plant seeds of intentionality in children – One of the most important things that we can do is pass along to the next generation what we have learned. Think about the impact of Dr. Seuss and all of the wonderful statements in those children’s books. Think about the impact of these children’s messages if imparted upon the whole world. Statements like:

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.”

“You’re off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting! So get on your way!”

Jim Collins once stated that you can only have transformation if you have transformational leaders!

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People generally want to make a difference when confronted with a crisis or tragedy. Devastating storms, earthquakes, and floods are all great causes in which to donate time and money. These opportunities are reactive in nature because they respond after the fact.

Today’s podcast will focus upon being proactive before any devastating storm arises. This reaction that I want to focus upon is based upon anticipation. Anticipation and intentionality are words for seeking significance. People with anticipation plan to be significant. They expect to live a life everyday that matters. They prepare for significant acts. They position themselves physically, mentally, and emotionally and financially to make a difference in the lives of other people. Their sense of anticipation draws them forward.

What does this sense of anticipation do for us. Let’s examine five things

Anticipation Causes Us to Value Today – Wen you live with a sense of intentionality, you know and understand that every day is your time to make a difference. It is not someday, one day, maybe tomorrow. It is TODAY! There is a big difference between numbering your days versus assuming your days. People who have experienced near death trauma understand the importance of living fully in the moment and taking nothing for granted. A fresh sense of urgency begins to drive these people. What about you? What has awakened you to a second chance on life?

Anticipation Prompts Us To Prepare – When you have a strong sense of anticipation you view everything differently and you prepare differently. Your daily habit changes, your short-term goals are precise, your family plans are laser focused, and your yearly goals are power packed. Think about it this way; what is the one word that describes your anticipation for this year? Focus on that word fully and completely. Exhaust the questions about this word as it applies to your life and the world around. I.e.. Transformation, Miracles, Hope.

Anticipation Helps Us Generate Good Ideas – When you possess an attitude of anticipation you expect tom come up with good ideas. This is not about hoarding good ideas for yourself. It is about a mind set that believes good ideas are to be shared and accessible. This challenges our attitude of sharing. Are you willing to share your ideas that will benefit others?

Anticipation Prompts Us To Look for Ways to Help Others – The question in this point is who do you want to help? Surely we are impressed to make a difference on a select group or class of people? Is children, special needs, elderly, married couples, single parents, and on the list could go. Who or whom motivates you to make a difference?

Anticipation Helps Us Possess an Abundance Mindset – The previous point leads to this point – abundance mindset! People live in one of two worlds. One world is about scarcity. You cannot give what you do not have. Scarcity thinking has nothing to give – it is preoccupied with receiving. Scarcity thinking focuses upon ME! It says there is not enough to go around so I need to get mine now before it is gone.

Abundance mindset has nothing to do with how much you have. These people may not be wealthy and live in the best of environments, but they are always willing to give and share what they have. They live with a belief tat more will be provided at the right time. Anticipation is the key that unlocks the door of abundance thinking.

Understand there is not one door of opportunity. There is not one door of significance. There are multiple doors. Finding and going through one door is an event. Going through many doors is a lifestyle. That requires an abundance mindset. With repeated success over time you develop a sense of significance in your DNA!

When you woke up this morning, what was your mindset related to making a difference? Did you believe that you could make a difference. Did you expect to make a difference? Or did you even think about it at all?

LINKS

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on iTunes – SUBSCRIBE

FREE GIFT – “The Art of Balancing Candor With Care” – Click on the icon at the bottom of the page

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