Category: Leadership Qualities

This is always a fun time of year for our family, as each family member completes a March Madness bracket for the ever-coveted family bragging rights!  This year, favorites seemed to win in the early rounds with several upsets later in the tournament…but it’s been fun to follow throughout.

When you look at who makes the Final Four, it’s not necessarily those with the most talent but those who demonstrate the best teamwork (see my previous posts on Teamwork; Jon Gordon’s The Power of a Positive Team; and John Maxwell’s 17 Laws of Teamwork). 

Earlier this year, I read another great book about teamwork, Don Yaeger’s Great Teams:  16 Things High Performing Organizations Do Differently.  Yaeger points out that the teams—and companies—that “win” sustainably spend time building the team culture that allows them to do so.

Yaeger contends that the effort to achieve culture can be broken down to four essential pillars that set truly Great Teams apart from those that simply perform well:

1. Targeting Purpose—The team is connected to a greater purpose. Members understand whom they are serving and why that matters.
2. Effective Management—The team is able to think creatively and act dynamically in order to stay fresh, effective, and relevant.
3. Activating Efficiency—Each member of the team brings a unique set of talents, experiences, perspectives, work ethic, personality traits, and know-how that melds with and complements those of the other team members.
4. Mutual Direction—There is a strong sense of understanding, appreciation, shared responsibility, and trust that unites and motivates the team to work together.

Click here to learn how I’d compare my teams to Yaeger’s Great Teams

As we celebrate the Federal holiday of Veteran’s Day, I can’t help but think of my favorite veteran—Allen (Paw Paw) Pyle.  My Paw Paw and Mano—my father’s parents—spent summers away from their Corpus Christi, Texas home near Durango, Colorado.  I was able to spend some time with them in my teenage years.  Paw Paw and I would go fishing on Vallecito Lake, using his fishing boat.  From time to time, he would let me drive and say, “It’s your boat.  Take us where you think the fish are.”  From the picture above, you can see that we had a lot of fun!  Happy Veteran’s Day to those who (like Paw Paw did) faithfully serve our country…

In May of this year, NASA convened an Executive Safety Leadership Program at the Kennedy Space Center.  Terry Wilcutt, who currently serves as NASA’s Director of Safety & Mission Assurance, gave all attendees a copy of Michael Abrashoff’s It’s Your Ship:  Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy.  Abrashoff notes that a Gallup study found nearly two-thirds of people who leave their companies are actually leaving their managers.  Leaders are failing—and the costs are astounding.

Abrashoff explains, “I found that the more control I gave up, the more command I got.  In the beginning, people kept asking my permission to do things.  Eventually, I told the crew, ‘It’s your ship.  You’re responsible for it.  Make a decision, and see what happens.’  Every sailor felt that Benfold was his or her responsibility.  Show me an organization in which employees take ownership, and I will show you one that beats its competitors…  As a leader, you can change your piece of the world, just as I was able to change mine.  After all, it’s your ship.”

Click here to learn more advice from Abrashoff