You've heard it a dozen times as a kid... usually at a low point in your life... like when the opposing team is crushing you and the coach is trying to motivate you, but his frustration shines through any encouragement.
"There's no I in TEAM"
As you advance in your career, and things are not going well, you could bet that someone drags out that "motivational" talk again. At this point, some smarta** usually pipes up "But there is in WIN".
You advance some more, and you are now leading a team. Things start to take a turn for the worse, and you hear that well worn phrase forming on your lips...
Give it up. Banish this phrase from your vocabulary.
Teams need to work together. But teams are not composed of homogenous androgynous robotic people.
Marcus Buckingham, in his book "
The One Thing You Need to Know" describes
Leadership as the ability to motivate people around the things that are common to all, and
Managing as working with individuals, and their unique blend of strengths and capabilities.
Your skill in recognizing and leveraging the core skills of your team will allow you to build a high performing group of individuals who work together to accomplish great things.
This book is full of great advice for IT leaders. Highly Recommended.
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