October 5, 2014
According to
John Maxwell, "A leader's potential is determined by those closest to him."
John notes,
"When you have the right staff, potential skyrockets."
The team or
organization leader needs team members he/she chooses. Many times they can
inherit and/or have someone from higher up in the organization want to add
people to the team. This is unfortunate
and can cause issues of with results orientation and effectiveness. When given
the opportunity to select his/her own team mates the leader needs to take
advantage of this to select the best and the brightest that will bring their
special attributes to the team.
It is
important for the leader to recognize that he/she wants to select those
individuals who address the weaknesses of the leader not clones of the leader.
( Patrick Lencioni )
The leader
has to take time to support and develop that team that will become his inner
circle. This is the group that will connect with each other and will develop a
deep sense of trust to the organization, the leader and accomplishing the
mission. Check out Patrick Lencioni's The Five Dysfunctions of the Team.
This does
not happen overnight it requires the leader spending time developing his team.
This means
interacting with each other not just in meetings and eating together. It means
having an opportunity to laugh and play together and to experience turmoil and
difficulty together.
Check out my
thoughts about playing soccer, racing cars, the fluer-di-lis, and the lightening bolt.
It also
means that the leader needs to find out what training and coaching they need
and insure that they get it.
As a note,
it is possible that you will make a bad selection for the team, the leader has
to be willing to address that because it is a weakness for the team that will
disrupt success.
I hope that
you enjoy this episode and I challenge you to take the time to examine your
organization and ask yourself …
Do you have
an inner circle?
Do you
support them?
Does someone
not need to be on that team?
Some words
of wisdom from John Maxwell:
"One of
the mistakes I often made early in my career as a team leader was that I
thought everyone who was on my team should remain on my team."-John
Maxwell
"Hire
the best staff you can find, develop them as much as you can, and hand off
everything you possibly can to them."-John Maxwell
Recommended
Reading:
John
Maxwell's:
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership
The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork
Patrick
Lencioni's:
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
Also, you
can subscribe to John Maxwell's Minute with Maxwell.
A daily dose of leadership
advice from John at no cost to you.
Enjoy!
Length:
31:21
