How to be a good team member
Today I want us to look at the third of the three myths we’ve been looking at over the last few posts (see here and here). We’re working our way through Marcus Buckingham’s new book entitled Go Put Your Strengths To Work and have begun to look at the first of six steps we need to work through to truly start living from our strengths. This first step is all about overcoming the things that may be stopping us doing this and Buckingham identifies three myths that may be holding us back. The third of these myths is:
MYTH: A good team does whatever it takes to help the team.
This, at first glance, sounds so right doesn’t it? In fact, 91% of us believe this to be true. But is this really the best use of our talents and abilities? Here’s the truth:
TRUTH: A good team member deliberately volunteers his strengths to the team most of the time.
When you think about it, this makes perfect sense. Doing whatever is needed may sound noble but in fact our contribution to the team would be far greater if it was an offering of our strengths.
Here’s what Buckingham says about this: “The truth is that while you will certainly accomplish much more if you collaborate with your teammates - there’s no question that teams are more effective than groups of disconnected individuals - when you look closely at the most effective teams, you discover that the players on these teams are not well rounded. They are not chipping in and doing whatever the team requires of them…The team is well rounded, precisely because each of the players is not.”
Have a think about the teams you may be part of and consider what you’re bringing to it. Are you contributing your “whatever” or your strengths? How might your team benefit from dropping this myth?
As with the previous two myths, here’s the same three questions to grapple with as you try to overcome this myth:
1) How does it serve you to believe that a good team member does whatever it takes to help the team?
2) What would it cost you to stop believing this?
3) How would it benefit you to believe that a good team member volunteers his strengths to the team most of the time?
What do you think?
April 9th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
hrm. that’s quite the thought provoker. i think i’ve always subscribed to that ‘myth’, more for the attitude behind it than actually following through with it… which probably leads to other issues.
btw Sam, how’d you get those links underneath your technorati tags?
April 10th, 2007 at 9:10 am
Lon, I would just say that the reality is that we don’t live in a perfect world. And so we DO need to be willing sometimes to operate out of our strengths if something needs to get done as a team. The problem is when that becomes the norm rather than the exception. I think too our teams would be so much more energised with people playing to their strengths most of the time.
As to the links, I set that up with FeedBlitz I think.
April 10th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
hey Sam, and that’s the truth of it… i think that’s where we really need to get strengths defined right up front or continually, otherwise, it could be a complete disaster.
working in the corporate world, i find they really had the idea of ’specialization’ down… everyone with different micro roles, that they are well trained in, but somehow I had the feeling it wasn’t really working optimally still.
July 18th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
Hey Sam,
Could you tell me how to add Feedblitz to my voxtropolis blog, I would love to chat about how to fine tune the blog thing sometime.
Thanks,
Peace!
Chris