Friday, September 20, 2019

Becoming Unstoppable

Recently, in the span of less than 24 hours, I was involved in the same conversation in two separate workplaces. The question: how do we make our team work better together?

Many people have made a lot of money writing books to answer this question. But in my experience, the answer is actually very simple. The problem lies in the execution. It’s all about mindset.

Next February, my wife and I will be married for 30 years. She often tells me (normally in the morning), that she chooses to love me today. I’ll be the first to admit that some days it takes a bit more effort—those are the days when flowers are required—and other days it’s an easy choice. This is just an example of how the choices we make, how we choose to think about things, greatly impacts our lives.

Imagine if you walked into work every day thinking, how can I make the jobs of my team easier today? Having a mindset that puts the team before yourself is the first step in making the team work better. But for this to work, everyone on the team must think with a you-before-me mentality.

If I put no effort into the relationship with my wife, her choice to love me today would become harder and harder to make, and eventually a completely different choice would be made. Every member of the team, from management on down, needs to hold the mindset that everything they do should make the jobs of the team easier.

Now, some of you may be asking yourself, does this mean I have to do my job and their job as well? Absolutely not. What this mindset means is that I will do my job to the best of my ability, not focus on what others are supposed to be doing, and getting out of the way so that they can do their jobs.

I recently saw a documentary that followed an NFL football team for an entire season. I found it extremely interesting when the offensive line coach told his players to just focus on their job—don’t worry about what the quarterback or receivers are doing. He said, “If you focus on your responsibilities and let them focus on theirs on every play, we’ll be unstoppable.”

While that is not entirely true, the principle is a good one. When a quarterback doesn’t have to worry if his offensive line is going to do their jobs, he can focus completely on what he needs to do.

So how do teams work better? By having each member focus on what he or she needs to do so that all other team members can focus on what they need to do. Doing my job makes it easier for you to do yours.

Becoming Unstoppable

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