No one is a perfect teammate.

I’m curious if the voice in your head disagreed with me on that statement.

Did you hear something like, “Well, I’m not perfect yet, but if I stay Humble and Hungry and get just a little more Smart, I can be The Ideal Team Player.

Ideal means perfect so I really should be perfect.

Anything like that come from the voice in your head? It has from mine.

My inner voice rarely says “You don’t have to be perfect.” Thankfully, though, I hear it more now than I used to.

The reality is I’m a recovering perfectionist.

You may be too and I’d like to help you train the voice inside your head to speak the truth more often.

How do you interpret “Ideal”?

Let’s just do a quick check to see if you have some perfectionist in you.

Ask yourself these questions, based on what you’ve learned about the Ideal Team Player using the diagram above,

• Do you really think you can get to the exact center and be truly Ideal?
• Can you stay there and not blow it? I don’t mean for a day or a week. I mean for the entire time you are a team member.

Your answer is probably, “Of course not. No one can do that.”

But, be honest with yourself, do you sometimes actually place that level of expectation and pressure on yourself? Even if you’d never do that to one of your teammates?

Ponder that for a minute and let’s answer another question.

Are you sharing what you’re learning?

If you’ve read this series, I hope you see the value of The Ideal Team Player message. You hopefully see its potential to transform your team and your organization.

So, have you talked about it openly and enthusiastically with your teammates? Have you shared the blog posts on social media? Emailed them to your friends?

If you think the material is valuable, what’s stopping you from sharing it with everyone you can?

Could it be you’re waiting until you’re just a little bit closer to Ideal before you can start talking to your teammates about it?

After all, people know that you’re not quite as Hungry as the book describes. And, Humble is something you struggle with too. You screw up regularly and everyone knows it.

Better to keep quiet and keep improving on your own than to show your imperfections and be exposed as a fraud.

Worse yet, you’re going to sound like a hypocrite when you can’t live out what you say good teammates should be doing.

Any chance your voice in your head said anything like that?

I’d say it’s a very strong possibility if you’re anything like me.

Sadly, I’ve often missed out on experiencing the joy and satisfaction of work done well. I was too busy focusing on how it wasn’t perfect.

Sadder yet, I’ve missed opportunities to help others improve by sharing what I knew because I didn’t want to look like a hypocrite.

I don’t want you to have the same regret.

Let me give you some actions and a resource to help you avoid experiencing what I did.

Action 1 – Trust the authority

If you think “ideal” in The Ideal Team Player means “perfect”, you’re wrong.

What authority do I have to say that? I don’t have any. But the Patrick Lencioni, the author of the book does.

He describes the center section where the three virtue circles overlap as representing the combined qualities of an ideal team player. He writes

That is not to imply that a person in the middle section will be consistently perfect in all these virtues, or in any of them, for that matter. No one is perfect. Even a person who is humble, hungry, and smart occasionally has a bad day, or a bad week, or even a bad time in their life.

Patrick Lencioni

Wow. How encouraging is that? I can have a less than perfect day, week, or extended period of my life and still be an ideal team player.

Those are comforting and encouraging words to this recovering perfectionist. I am not a fraud or a failure when I don’t live out these virtues perfectly. Neither are you.

What a relief.

Hang on, though. It gets better.

These are not permanent characteristics embedded in a person’s DNA; rather, they are developed and maintained through life experiences and personal choices at home and at work.

Patrick Lencioni

I can positively impact my future. Improvement in each of these areas is possible for me. And for you.

We can become more Humble, Hungry, and Smart through our experiences and our choices.

Lencioni’s even offers a free self-assessment tool on his website to help us get started.

He recommends using this tool in discussions with your peers who also understand the three virtues of an ideal team player and want to improve too.

That takes us to the second action.

Action 2 – Decide to help your teammates

Are you hesitant to share what you’re learning for the reasons I described above? A little afraid of being viewed as a fraud or a hypocrite?

I encourage you to not let your inner perfectionist prevent you from helping your teammates.

You don’t have to be perfect to be ideal and you don’t have to be perfect to share what you know.

Sharing what you are learning even when you’re not applying it perfectly or even consistently does not make you a hypocrite.

In fact, sharing what you know with others demonstrates you are a teammate who values the people on your team.

You want them to have the same opportunities to improve as you have. You’re willing to face your personal discomfort and take action for their benefit.

I know it’s hard to take action. It’s sometimes harder to know what action to take.

Don’t worry about that. I’ve made it super easy for you to help your teammates when you’re ready.

Action 3 – Share the free guide for this blog series

Do you agree with message of The Ideal Team Player? Have you personally used some of the free resources as you’ve discovered them through this blog series? Do you want to share these resources with your teammates?

If you’re reading this, I expect the answer is probably yes to all three of those questions.

But, who wants to dig through all these posts to find the link to the video or the document you found useful so you can share it with someone?

No one.

Not you. Not me. And, definitely not your teammates. So I did something to help.

I created a guide with summaries and links for all the posts and resources from this series.

With this one document you can easily get to the techniques you found valuable or revisit topics whenever they come to mind. You can avoid wasting time and getting frustrated searching for the information you need.

It is super easy for you to get this guide and just as easy for you to share with your teammates. Just use this link.

Click Here To Get Your Free Guide Now

What’s in your way?

What’s stopping you from sharing what you’ve learned with your teammates? Either with the link I provided or just in a conversation.

Your imperfection shouldn’t stop you. You don’t have to be perfect to be an ideal team player. Patrick Lencioni says so. And, he wrote the book on the subject.

Your fear of being a hypocrite shouldn’t get in your way either. Ideal team players share what they know will help their teammates even when they aren’t able to do everything right.

What about that voice inside your head? Will that be what prevents you from helping your teammates get better?

I sure hope not.

Because, in my experience, brave steps like sharing what we know are what cause our inner perfectionist to be a little less critical. A little more kind. And much more truthful.

The truth is you don’t have to be perfect to be ideal. You are valuable to your team even with your imperfections.

Let’s do something great.

Greg

Discussion Questions

• Who on your team would benefit from the message and resources in this series?

• What is the best way to share this information with them? When will you take that step?

I’m interested to know how you put this into practice in your life. Please share your experiences in the comments section so we can learn together.

About the Author – Learn more about Greg

Click here to download the free guide.

How to Write a Professional Email: Make a positive impact with every email you send.

The post You Don’t Have To Be Perfect To Be Ideal appeared first on Greg Harrod.

Patrick Lencioni in his book The Ideal Team Player [affiliate link] issues this warning and I strongly agree with his concern.

Teammates who fit this pattern can cause serious damage to you and others on the team.

Unfortunately, I happen to be too familiar with this type of person.

I’ll explain why as I continue this series on The Ideal Team Player and talk about the third virtue, Smart, as I promised to do in my last post, 5 Words Can Make You a More Valuable Teammate.

Have you ever been fooled?

Have you ever had someone on your team who is charming? Always interested in your well being?

You followed their lead. Trusted them. They seemed genuinely humble and you were convinced they were looking out for you.

Sadly, though, when they got what they really wanted, the truth came out. They were really only interested in themselves and their own interests.

You were crushed, betrayed, and deeply hurt.

Your teammate was basking in the glory and you were feeling like a fool.

Lencioni describes a team member who would do something like that as The Skillful Politician. (You can hear him explain this at the 9:30 mark in this short video.)

The Skillful Politician is Hungry and Smart but not Humble. This dangerous 2 out of 3 combination can wreak havoc in teams and hurt people. And, this person is hard to spot until it’s too late.

I’ve been personally involved in situations like this. You probably have too.

Thankfully, I’ve learned how to avoid some of the damage and I want to share my tips with you.

Before I do that, let’s first consider the definition of Smart.

People Smart

Lencioni uses the term Smart not as a measure of intellect.

He uses the term to describe a person who is wise in how to deal with people. In other words, People Smart.

Ideal team players are smart. They have common sense about people. Smart people tend to know what is happening in a group situation and how to deal with others in the most effective way. They have good judgment and intuition around the subtleties of group dynamics and the impact of their words and actions.

Patrick Lencioni

This is a skill that I expect many of you have.

You may not be the best at it yet, but you have a desire to take into account the impact of what you say and do on your teammates.

Or you may have advanced skills in this area.

You may have a natural ability to read people. To understand their position. You know exactly what to say to motivate each of your teammates.

You select just the right words and deliver them in a way that makes each individual feel a certain way or take a desired action.

Clearly, you are Smart.

That’s a good thing. Right? That’s what leaders do. They influence and motivate people to do what needs to be done.

So what’s the problem?

Power and responsibility

There’s a quote I’m sure you’ve heard. Some variation of it is found in the Bible’s parable of the faithful servant, the writings of Voltaire, and the Spiderman comic books of Stan Lee.

With great power comes great responsibility.

If you are Hungry and Smart, you are very powerful and have the great responsibility that comes with that power.

But if you lack humility, you are also very dangerous.

A list of infamous world leaders comes to mind. They had the personality and charisma that made others follow them and an insatiable appetite for power but no concern for the people they destroyed.

The reality is, though, that this doesn’t just apply to world leaders.

It applies to us, especially if we’re on a team.

Being Smart brings opportunities

Consider this scenario.

You’re with your full team having a group discussion. The authority figure, maybe the boss, the principal, or the coach, is there.

No one wants to mess up. Everyone wants to put their best foot forward and make it obvious they add value.

As a Smart team player, you know your teammates and you’ve read the group dynamics well.

You’ve detected the subtle clues in people’s body language and their tone of voice. You see who is having a great day and who is down.

Because you asked the right questions earlier, you know who didn’t get enough sleep last night and is struggling to even stay awake.

It’s obvious to you some of your teammates are irritated and could lose their cool any minute.

You can tell who is confident and who is discouraged. Who is prepared and who is not quite ready for this moment.

Think of the incredible power you have.

You have so many opportunities to do good for the team as well as opportunities to take care of only yourself.

I’ve been in situations like this. I’ve had hard choices to make about what to say or do. You probably have too and you will be again.

I want to give you some tips to help you.

A confession

Before I share them though, I have a confession to make.

Remember the description earlier of The Skillful Politician?

That’s me.

The damage I’ve done to people was not always as severe as I described. Nevertheless, I have negatively impacted my teams too many times by being Hungry and Smart but not Humble.

The temptations of The Skillful Politician are always within me.

I have to continually fight to be more concerned with the success of the team than with being recognized for my personal contribution.

I often want to ask a carefully crafted question to look good in front of others. Or to make a teammate who has irritated me look bad.

That’s awful I know, but it’s true.

With the increased power of the Smart virtue, I have to constantly improve my ability to be responsible with that power.

If that describes you, try out this technique that I’ve used to avoid being a Skillful Politician.

It’s pretty simple. I just pause before I speak or act and ask myself some questions.

Questions help me filter

The somewhat embarrassing truth is I need to filter my initial thoughts about what I am going to do or say. My first responses usually sound more like a Skillful Politician than an Ideal Team Player.

Thankfully, these questions usually provide the filter I need.

They often cause me to change what I say or do to be more kind and gracious and beneficial for the team. Sometimes they remind me that it is best to just stay silent until I can stop focusing on myself.

Here are six questions I’ve found useful.

1. What’s my motive?

This is obviously the first question I need to ask myself.

If what I’m about to do or say is only for my personal benefit and not the good of the team, I should not proceed.

I recommend Patrick Lencioni’s book The Motive: Why So Many Leaders Abdicate Their Most Important Responsibilities [affiliate link] for more on how motive is the key factor in leading well.

2. Would I tell my mom what I did?

Imagine this conversation.

Mom: What did you do at work today?

Me: I got my teammate fired because he made me mad last week and I knew exactly what to say today to set him off in front of the boss.

If I can’t tell my mom what I did and be proud of it, I probably want to rethink it.

3. Who is this person outside of this setting?

When I’m about to do something potentially hurtful toward another person, I remind myself this person isn’t just my teammate. They are someone’s son or daughter, mom or dad, wife or husband.

Would I want someone to say what I’m about to say to my son or my wife?

Sadly, I have to admit I’ve changed my choice of words and my attitude more than once because of this question.

4. Is it really worth it?

Whatever I think I’m going to gain by putting my own interests ahead of the team’s, the payoff, the reward. Is it worth doing what I’m about to do?

Am I really willing to sacrifice my character and my integrity for that?

5. How will this really turn out?

It’s easy to speculate about how my planned words and actions will turn out great for me.

The truth is I have no way of knowing whether my selfish acts will bring about my success or my demise.

What I think will make me look good may actually lead to my embarrassment and humiliation.

6. What term would I use to describe me?

If I later replayed what I’m about to do, how would I label myself? Would I use “ideal team player” or something like “weasel”, “jerk”, or any of a multitude of options represented by “&$*%#!”?

Others will likely see right through my self-seeking behavior and use those terms as well.

Is this really how I want to be known as a teammate?

No team player is ideal

I have another confession to make. Writing this post was a bit uncomfortable for me.

I was reminded how prone I am to being “The Skilled Politician”. I have the potential to be a real danger to myself and my teammates.

If you feel the same way, you now realize you are not alone. At least two of us have to work to put the best interests of our teams ahead of our own. I don’t think there are only two of us in this world though. Many people struggle with this.

No one is a perfect teammate. I discuss this more in my post, “You Don’t Have To Be Perfect To Be Ideal.” which wraps up this series on the book The Ideal Team Player [affiliate link].

I encourage you to keep striving to improve and share your challenges and your successes with others.

We’re on this journey to being a better teammate together. Keep at it. You can do it.

Let’s lead with kindness and confidence.

Greg

Discussion Questions

• What techniques have you found useful in controlling yourself when you’re tempted to act in a way that doesn’t help your teams?

• Have you observed a The Skillful Politician at work? We’re they successful or did their lack of humility hurt them in the end?

I’m interested to know how you put this post into practice. Please share your experiences in the comments section so we can learn together.

About the Author – Learn more about Greg

Click here to download the free guide.

How to Write a Professional Email: Make a positive impact with every email you send.

The post How to Avoid the Temptations of The Skillful Politician appeared first on Greg Harrod.

Go back in your mind to a time when you were new to a team or to a role.

What team were you on? Who were you with? What were you feeling?

Were you totally confident you knew exactly what to do to add value to the team? Completely secure in your role as a key contributor to the team’s success? Not a hint of self-doubt somewhere inside you?

If that describes you, then you may want to skip this post. If not, please stay with me.

My experience throughout my career

If you are like I was in the situation you envisioned, you were not exactly sure of what actions to take to add value to your team.

You may have been a little worried that you could be left out as others stepped in and delivered results. A fear of not “pulling your weight” was weighing on you.

With all that churning inside, you weren’t sure what to do next. In fact, you may be having those feelings with a team situation right now.

I want to give you some tips because I’ve had all those feelings at different points in my career.

There are steps you can take to gain confidence in being a valuable teammate.

I’ll give you to those steps through five words that have stuck with me for many years. They’ve given me encouragement, direction, and confidence.

Let’s go back to early in my career as an engineering intern.

Chop Chop

My memory from over 30 years ago is as vivid as if it was today.

Meet Mei Gen, the administrative assistant for the Systems and Control Research department where I started my career. A petite woman with black hair down to her waist. She might been five feet tall on her tippy toes.

She was small but mighty. Wrangling a group of creative, highly intelligent, strong-willed engineers was not an easy task. But she did it well.

One of her most powerful tools were these two words.

Chop! Chop!

I can still hear her call out those words to an engineer who needed to get something to her on a deadline.

With a slight accent and a serious but playful tone, she would karate chop one hand with another for emphasis as she looked you in the eyes. “Chop! Chop!”

Her point was crystal clear.

In this group, on this team, you need to move quickly and get your stuff done on time to be successful.

That “Chop! Chop!” phrase was planted in my mind early in my professional career and it has served me well.

Fast forward many years to another company where I had just been given the role of Manager.

Two more powerful words had a big impact.

Fast Walker

I was visiting a supplier near Fort Wayne, Indiana. Dave, the wise and seasoned department leader, and I were walking down the hallway.

One of his team members, an engineer who consistently impressed me with his attitude and quality of work, walked briskly past us.

Dave looked at me. He winked and grinned as he nodded toward the man and said in his deep, gravely voice, “He’s a fast walker.“

Dave explained when he builds a team he always looks for “fast walkers”. People who move from place to place and task to task quickly without wasting time. Not frantic and rushing but always with a good pace and purpose.

He found it to be a trustworthy indicator of a team member’s internal drive. It was valuable advice I’ve also found to be true.

When you’re building a team, look for “fast walkers”.

I promised you five words and we’re up to four. (I’m counting “Chop” twice by the way if you’re keeping track.)

What’s the fifth word that can make you a more valuable teammate?

If you’ve been following my series on Patrick Lencioni’s book The Ideal Team Player [affiliate link], you can probably guess.

I introduced Lencioni’s three virtues of an ideal team player in the post, Discover How to be a Better Teammate. I covered the virtue Humble in the post Can I be Humble and Successful on a Team?

Two virtues, Hungry and Smart, remain.

Hungry is the fifth word I group with “Chop! Chop!” and “Fast Walker”. Lencioni’s definition of this word brings it together for me.

Hungry

This definition connects what I learned from Mei Gen as a young engineer with Dave’s words to me as a new manager.

Ideal team players are hungry. They are always looking for more. More things to do. More to learn. More responsibility to take on. Hungry people almost never have to be pushed by a manager to work harder, because they are self-motivated and diligent. They are constantly thinking about the next step and the next opportunity.

Patrick Lencioni

Lencioni packs this short statement with powerful words describing the mindset that will make you a more valuable teammate. This attitude should be also be evident in those you select to be on your teams.

For more on choosing team members check out my post, How to Create Great Teams with Two Powerful Questions.

Five actions from the five words

Words without actions are hollow. Taking action, however, brings growth and transformation. Let’s get to the tips.

1. Deliver your work on time.

Better yet, get it done early! The work you’re doing is important and is intended to help deliver results. The sooner your part is done, the sooner those results can be achieved by your team.

2. Bring energy to the team

By moving quickly and doing your tasks with purpose, you will raise the energy level of those around you. Be the player who dives for the loose ball on the basketball court. Who sprints down the court every play.

Determine ahead of time that when it’s your turn to do something, you are going to do it with full energy.

3. See what needs to be done

Be searching for work to be done. If you’re done with your specific assignment, find something else to do. As any business owner (including my parents) will tell you, there is always something to do.

Hungry team players don’t stand around waiting to be told what to do. They see what needs to be done. Then they do it!

4. Look for future opportunities

Hungry team players don’t just see what needs to be done now. They also think about what more they and their team can do.

Train your mind to think beyond the immediate. Schedule time, even if it’s just a few minutes, to intentionally focus on ways you and your team could have a bigger impact. Envision possibilities for helping more people.

5. Share your hunger

When you’re hungry and you want to do more, you don’t want to keep it to yourself. That’s a good thing.

You can help your team, including your leader, by sharing your hunger. Attitude and energy are contagious.

When done with humility, something as simple as telling your teammates that you are excited to be doing what you’re doing can make a big impact.

Humble, hungry, what’s next?

You’ve got these five actions to make you a more valuable teammate.

You can now starting living The Ideal Team Player [affiliate link], virtue Hungry.

Reading the post Can I be Humble and Successful on a Team? gave you the basics of the virtue Humble.

What’s left to become an ideal team player? You’ve got to be Smart. People Smart.

This third virtue is critical to combine with Humble and Hungry to be the most valuable teammate you can be.

We’ll cover that in my next post. Until then please take a look at the discussion questions below and provide your input in the comments section.

I’m eager to hear how about the success you and your teams are having as you strive to be Humble and Hungry.

Let’s lead with kindness and confidence.

Greg

Discussion Questions

• Are you a “Fast Walker”? Have you developed that attribute or is that just how you were made?

• Do you think people can learn to be Hungry? Is this a skill one can develop? If so, what tips do you have to learn to be Hungry?

About the Author – Learn more about Greg

Click here to download the free guide.

How to Write a Professional Email: Make a positive impact with every email you send.

The post 5 Words Can Make You a More Valuable Teammate appeared first on Greg Harrod.

I’ve been in that position. I was asking myself this question: Can I be humble and successful on a team?

Maybe you’re wondering that too.

The answer I discovered was “Yes” but it took me some time and internal struggle to reach that conclusion.

I’m going to share some resources that helped me change my mindset and become a better teammate.

I’m confident they can help you on your journey to being a high performing team member as well.

My struggle with humility

I’ve always believed that humility is an important character trait, but I used to be unclear on whether being a humble team member would bring success for me and for my team. I wanted personal and team success but I also wanted to be a humble person.

I heard often that I should look out for myself more if I wanted to get ahead. That just didn’t feel right to me.

To be honest, though, I was afraid that being humble might mean that I was weak or ineffective as a team member.

I wanted to assert myself when I knew I had something to add to the team, but I didn’t want to be seen as arrogant.

Was I being confident or boastful? Humble or cowardly?

The conflict between being a man of character and a valuable member of the team was always churning inside me.

A big step in the resolution of my internal conflict came when I read Patrick Lencioni’s book The Ideal Team Player [affiliate link]. This post includes links to more resources on this topic.

Through this book and my own study and experience, I’ve learned how to put my internal conflict to rest.

A humble team member is an asset not a liability

Lencioni writes that the first and most important virtue of an ideal team player is humility. Such a strong statement from an established and respected expert on high performing teams and organizational health helped me to recognize the value of humility in a team setting.

He made it clear that being a humble team member is not only acceptable if you want to perform well on a team. It is required.

He describes the Humble virtue of an ideal team player in this way.

Ideal team players are humble. They lack excessive ego or concerns about status. Humble people are quick to point out the contributions of others and slow to seek attention for their own. They share credit, emphasize team over self and define success collectively rather than individually.

Patrick Lencioni

This affirmed what I felt but needed to have reinforced in my thinking.

Arrogance and excessive self-promotion are not required to be successful.

Humility is a positive trait that should be valued.

It is not a negative habit that will hinder your performance.

Humility and confidence

This idea wasn’t new to me. Down deep I knew that focusing only on myself wouldn’t make me a successful teammate.

I just needed the reassurance of what I really already believed.

What did challenge my thinking, however, was this.

Sometimes what appears to be humility is actually not humility at all.

Lencioni covers this at the 4:30 mark in this short video.

To deny our God-given talents is actually a violation of humility just like it is to exaggerate them.

Patrick Lencioni

Understanding that a lack of self-confidence is not true humility caused me to think in a new way.

This change in my thinking ultimately quieted much of my inner turmoil.

I learned to add more value to my teams by sharing my ideas and my skills with confidence not timidity. I contributed more to my teams.

This new mindset made me more humble and successful on my teams.

It was great that I was growing and learning, but I still needed something more.

I wanted to know what humility really was.

I needed a definition.

Humility defined

This time my answer didn’t come from Patrick Lencioni.

My answer came from a preacher who lived in England in the late 1800’s, Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

In his book, Gleanings Among The Sheaves, Spurgeon describes humility in this way.

Humility is to make a right estimate on one’s self.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Or course as a Christian, Spurgeon points to God and not ourselves as the source of all our power and talent.

This perspective alone brings a deep sense of humility and gratitude. I share his position but that wasn’t all that attracted me to Spurgeon’s definition of humility.

His call to be objective and consider the facts is what captured my attention.

I believe this approach is the key to understanding true humility and living it out in practical ways.

Be objective to be humble and successful

To “make a right estimate” means to see things as they really are, to acknowledge reality.

By admitting the truth about ourselves and our situation, we can be successful while maintaining humility.

Being willing to see and deal with what is true without deceiving ourselves brings increased freedom to make an impact.

True humility reveals opportunities that are hidden by pride.

If I have skills that benefit the team, I should use them confidently without being ashamed or embarrassed about being talented in certain ways.

If I don’t have the ability to do something, I can admit the truth so another team member can fill the role.

I don’t need to go against my personal convictions and follow the bad advice that boasting and self-promotion are required to be successful.

Humility isn’t required but I highly recommend it

It is always best to deal with reality and truth. And, the truth is you can be humble and successful.

I’ve learned this through the writings of wise men like Patrick Lencioni and Charles Spurgeon and through my own experience.

Of course humility isn’t required for a team to deliver results. We’ve all seen other approaches and the damage they bring to the people involved. Personally, I’m going to stick with my convictions and pursue humility.

I am convinced that being humble as a team member will bring success for individuals and for teams while building up people in the process.

How about you?

Is humility a trait you want to develop and apply in your journey to become the best teammate you can be?

Let’s do something great.

Greg

Discussion Questions

• Have you learned to balance being humble with being successful? What advice would give other based on your experience?

• How might you encourage your teammates to embrace humility?

I’m interested to know how you put this into practice in your life. Please share your experiences in the comments section so we can learn together.

About the Author – Learn more about Greg

Click here to download the free guide.

How to Write a Professional Email: Make a positive impact with every email you send.

The post Can I be Humble and Successful on a Team? appeared first on Greg Harrod.

Who do I want to be as a teammate? and Who do I want on my team?

You’re reading this blog which is focused on connecting people and mobilizing them to deliver results so I know you want to create great teams as much as I do.

In today’s post, I’ll share some practical tips and resources to apply these powerful questions to achieve that goal.

This post is part of a series based on The Ideal Team Player by Patrick Lencioni [affiliate link]. If you’re new to this blog, check out my last post, Discover How to be a Better Teammate to get more background on this series.

You can also subscribe to my weekly email newsletter to stay connected with me.

Who do I want to be as a teammate?

In The Ideal Team Player [affiliate link], Lencioni describes three virtues.

• Humble
• Hungry
• Smart

As defined in the book, these three characteristics capture how I want to live my life. They describe the kind of teammate I want to be.

I want to be Humble, Hungry, and Smart.

If I want to create great teams, I need to be a great teammate. And, being Humble, Hungry, and Smart is the framework I follow.

I’ll share my perspective on each of these attributes in separate posts.

For now, I want you to pause and think about your answer to this question.

Ask yourself, Who do I want to be as a teammate?

This is critical. We all need to understand our core values.

If you can’t answer that question, I strongly recommend that you invest some time thinking about it.

You may not want to be Humble, Hungry, or Smart. That’s your choice.

Of course, I recommend you reconsider if you want success when you’re on a team or you’re trying to create great teams.

While you’re pondering the first question, let me move to the second.

Who do I want on my team?

I know what it means for me to be true to myself when I’m on a team. My core values are clear. I hope yours are too.

I want to be Humble, Hungry, and Smart. Teams with people who have this same goal are inspiring to me. I want to be around them.

When I get to pick the people on my team, I will pick Humble, Hungry, and Smart people every time.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to be on a team full of people just like me.

I am an active proponent of diversity and inclusion. A variety of backgrounds and differing perspectives are critical factors when I form teams.

Humble, Hungry, and Smart come in many different forms. In fact, these virtues actually promote diversity and inclusion.

You decide who’s on the team. Be ready.

You may be in a position to directly select your team members. You have the final decision on who gets hired or selected for the team.

You’re the coach. The hiring manager. The decider.

That’s great!

You can apply the Humble, Hungry, Smart framework immediately.

Check out my last post and take a look at The Ideal Team Player Interview Guide. This resource from The Table Group is useful, practical, and free.

Chances are, however, that most of us aren’t in a position of authority with formal decision rights.

What about us? Can we still have an impact?

Absolutely!

You will be deciding who is on the team soon. Get ready.

Most teams are not created through a formal process. Adding a new staff member or signing a new recruit is a relatively rare event.

Still, teams are formed all around us every day. You can influence who is on the team.

You’re probably doing that already even if you haven’t looked at it from that perspective.

Think back to our broad definition of a team from my post, How many teams are you on? More than you think.

A team is “a number of persons associated together in work or activity“. We’re all on countless teams.

Whether you’re forming an executive level business leadership group or signing up volunteers to help organize snacks for your child’s field trip, you are picking team members.

You want to have the right people on the team. That can be the difference between a smooth and pleasant experience and a nightmare story that you will make you cringe when you tell it twenty years from now.

I said earlier when I get to pick the people on my team, I will pick Humble, Hungry, and Smart people every time. I encourage you to do the same.

How can we do that?

Decide on the traits you want in your future teammates

• Become familiar with the Humble, Hungry, and Smart virtues. Even a basic understanding will be beneficial.
• Read these posts. Review the referenced resources.

Identify your future teammates

• Observe the people around you. Who is Humble, Hungry, and Smart? Or maybe just one or two of those virtues.
• Who do you think would want to be more Humble, Hungry, and Smart if they were given the opportunity?

Invest in the your future teammates

• Cultivate your relationships with those who are living some or all of these virtues. Talk with them about these concepts.
• Share these posts. Recommend the referenced resources. Buy the book The Ideal Team Player [affiliate link] for them.

Do these three things now before you are in a position to select your teammates.

When the opportunity arrives, you will be well prepared to select Ideal Team Players and create a great team that delivers exceptional results.

Let’s do something great.

Greg

Discussion Questions

• What teams will you be creating in the future? List the people you would like to invest in now and ask to be on those teams.

• How can you share with them the things you’ve learned to help them be an Ideal Team Player with you?

I would love to know how you are putting this information into practice. Please share your input in the comments section so we can celebrate our successes together and encourage one another in our struggles.

About the Author – Learn more about Greg

Click here to download the free guide.

How to Write a Professional Email: Make a positive impact with every email you send.

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In my earlier post, I provided some tips. I also suggested you could read my blog and subscribe to my weekly email newsletter to improve.

Those recommendations are a good start, but I’ve got another one that will help you even more.

It’s simple and it doesn’t take much time.

While it’s not complex, it could, as the title suggests, take you to the highest level as a team player.

Ready to hear the magic, rock-your-world solution?

Let me share a not-so-secret secret with you first.

I don’t have any truly original material

What I’m going to share with you isn’t material that I created on my own.

In fact, that’s true of all the content in my blog. I gather information, synthesize it, and present it in my unique style. In that sense, it’s original.

At the core, however, all of “my” thoughts and ideas are a collection of outside inputs that entered my brain at some point in my life.

Sometimes I can identify how I came up with a thought or an idea. Most times I can’t.

In today’s post, I can definitely point to a major influence of how I think about being a better teammate.

That’s my disclaimer before I share “my” solution. It’s not really “my” solution.

Read “The Ideal Team Player”

What’s this rock-your-world solution?

Read the book The Ideal Team Player by Patrick Lencioni.

Seriously. That’s it.

The picture probably gave it away didn’t it?

You can stop reading this blog now and just go get the book if you want.

I won’t be offended.

Don’t like to read books? You’ve got options.

The book is short and easy to read, but maybe you aren’t a reader. I get it.

If reading a book is a barrier for you, here are some other great options. Most are free!

• Buy the audio book [affiliate link]
• Watch Patrick Lencioni’s 13 minute TEDx talk
• Download the free summary provided by the author (an exceptional resource to keep handy)
• Explore the many resources offered on the official website for The Ideal Team Player
• Listen to this Coaching for Leaders podcast – How to Get the Ideal Team Player, with Patrick Lencioni (one of my favorite podcasts and episodes)

I highly recommend that you do all of these. Or just one of these. You won’t regret it.

Of course, if you’d like to hear more of my perspective, keep reading.

Why am I such a fan of The Ideal Team Player?

Why all the hype for this book?

Is Patrick Lencioni a close personal friend of mine?

I wish. He’s one of my favorite authors and seems like a great guy.

I hope to meet him someday.

Maybe I’ll even have him on my podcast when I get it started (dream big, right?)

But, I’ve never met Mr. Lencioni or Patrick or Pat. Maybe only his close friends call him Pat?

See?

I don’t even know what to call him.

Am I making money off this?

Well, to be transparent, I hope so.

As I disclose openly per FTC guidelines (see the note in small print in the footer down there?), I use affiliate programs to help fund what I do.

What’s an affiliate program?

Basically, if I have a link and you click through and make a purchase within a short time period, I may get a small commission.

You don’t pay any more if you use the link, but I get a little income to pay for things like a website hosting service.

For example, if you purchase The Ideal Team Player through this link, I will earn a small amount. You pay nothing extra.

So the answer is I might be making money. But not a lot.

And that’s not why I’m writing this post.

Do I believe in the message of the book?

Ding! Ding! Ding! That’s my motivation.

One of my main goals is to connect people to useful information and resources.

The Ideal Team Player is extremely valuable and I want you to know about it.

I’ll explain why I feel so strongly about the book’s message in a short series of posts covering the 3 Virtues of The Ideal Team Player [affiliate link].

Be watching for those posts in the next few weeks.

While you’re waiting, I encourage you to take advantage of the resources I’ve listed.

Trust me. If you apply The Ideal Team Player concepts, you will be a better teammate.

Let’s do something great.

Greg

Discussion Questions

• Which resource can you use today to be a better teammate?

• Who can you share this post with to help them grow and improve?

I’m interested to know what you appreciated most from the resources I highlighted. Please share your thoughts in the comments section so we can learn together.

About the Author – Learn more about Greg

Click here to download the free guide.

How to Write a Professional Email: Make a positive impact with every email you send.

The post Discover How to be a Better Teammate appeared first on Greg Harrod.

Is this all Greg talks about? How many teams is this guy on?

I’m on a lot of teams. And so are you.

Don’t believe me? Then let me explain.

My teams

I’ve been on countless teams in my life. I played sports growing up. I serve alongside others at our church. My job involves working with cross-functional groups.

Being on teams is a big part of my life experience.

How about you?

Are you on a team now? Does this teamwork stuff apply to you?

Trust me. It does.

You’re a member of more teams than you realize.

For me, recognizing that I’m on a team is my first step toward having the mindset of a team member. I can then have a much greater positive impact on the people around me.

I believe it can do the same for you.

A one-minute exercise

Let’s do a quick exercise. Grab a pencil and a piece of paper or open an app to take notes.

Got it? Okay.

Take one minute and make a list of the teams you’ve been on at any time in your life.

You have sixty seconds. Ready. Set. Go! (Music from Jeopardy plays in the background)

Time’s up.

What teams are on your list?

I suspect you have things like volleyball team, basketball team, staff at work, vacation bible school committee, new product development team, things like that. Your list is probably pretty long.

Keep that list. We’re going to add to it.

First, though, I need to share the definition of “team” I’m using.

“Team” defined

Merriam-Webster.com defines a team as “a number of persons associated together in work or activity“.

That’s a very broad definition. I like it and that’s the one I use.

Invest one more minute

Now I want you to repeat the exercise you just did but this time use the definition above.

Keep in mind, “a number of persons” can be just you and one other person.

You have another 60 seconds. Ready. Set. Go! (Roll that Jeopardy music again)

Pencils down.

How many teams did you add to your list?

If you really thought about the definition I gave you, sixty seconds wasn’t enough time to even get started.

The list is endless.

So what?

Okay, Greg. I’m on a bunch of teams. What’s your point?

My point is this.

Having the mindset of a teammate can be a game changer for you and the people you work with. Your teammates.

Being aware of the teams you’re on is the first step. But not the last one.

Your teammates need you

This is the most important answer to the question of “So what?”

Your teammates need you. You are important to their success.

Look back at the second part of the list you made.

Did you write down teams that you hadn’t thought about before? Those teams you just now realized you’re on represent opportunities to make an impact in people’s lives.

If you’re on a team, you can make a difference to your teammates. Even if you only have one other person on that team. They matter. They are important and so are you. You both have important roles to fill.

You have experience. Put it to use.

We have all been on some sort of team at some point in our lives. Our lists show that. Every one of us knows at least a little about teamwork.

You have experience.

You’ve learned lessons about what works and what doesn’t work.

Your experience on teams may have been enjoyable or something you never want to go through again. Either way, you’ve got experience.

I encourage you to think about what you already know from the teams you listed first. How can you apply that knowledge to the teams you listed in the second part of your list?

Your investment in those obvious teams, your time, sweat, and tears, produced experience in you. Put it to use wherever you can.

It’s valuable. It’s valuable to you. It’s even more valuable to your teammates.

Learn more and get even better

You’ve got experience. You’ve got ample opportunities to apply that experience and help your teammates.

You’re all set, right? Nothing more to do?

Wrong.

I encourage you to keep getting better. Learn to be an even better teammate.

This is why I hope you keep reading my posts and sharing with others in the comments.

We may be good, even great, members of our teams. But we can still learn more and grow.

If this blog isn’t helping you do that, please let me know how to improve. What’s the best way to do that?

Click here to subscribe to my weekly email newsletter.

We can exchange ideas on what I need to change.

I want you to be the best teammate you can be. For yourself and for the people on your team.

What can we do right now to be an even better teammate?

We’ve done a lot already in this article. We’ve got a list of our obvious teams and our not so obvious teams.

This list by itself equips us to shift our mindset so we can have an even bigger positive impact on people.

What else can we do?

I’m sure you have lots of great ideas. Please share them in the comments so others can learn from your experience.

If you’re stuck on how to get started, there are a few questions below to get you going.

My post Discover How to be a Better Teammate is loaded with resources too.

I’m glad you’re here. I want to learn from you. I want to teach you what I know.

We are learning and growing together.

I guess that makes us teammates, doesn’t it?

Let’s do something great.

Greg

Discussion Questions

• Who is one person from the teams on your list who you hadn’t previously thought of as your teammate? How can you help them be more successful?

• What team in your past was your most enjoyable and what is the most valuable experience from that team? How can you apply that experience to a team you’re on now?

• Think of one of the most important lessons you learned from a coach. Who would benefit if you shared that lesson with them?

• Which of your teammates has been on a team you know nothing about? Ask them to share their story and how their experience helps them in the work you’re doing together.

About the Author – Learn more about Greg

Click here to download the free guide.

How to Write a Professional Email: Make a positive impact with every email you send.

The post How Many Teams are You on? More than You Think. appeared first on Greg Harrod.