Teamwork will ultimately drive the heart and spirit of the individuals that are within a team, which ultimately results in the development of a winning team culture.
Culture is driven by the players on the team. It is the responsibility of every team member to want to have a positive influence and to challenge other team members to grow to a higher level in leadership and individual effectiveness.
Culture is driven by core values and ethics and it is the responsibility of each team member to grow these values and ethics. The coaching staff at South Sydney Rabbitohs, that I have the honour and privilege to be part of, are an extension of the head coach Michael Maguire and his team vision and team core values. We all drive the culture.
You can’t do anything great on your own and team players know this. Team players value people – they value what their teammates bring to the team because they understand they can’t do anything on their own.
The behaviours that exist within a team will be determined by the level of thinking that exists. This determines whether team members are high maintenance or low maintenance. If your thinking doesn’t change then nothing will change and the level of thinking and the type of thinking all result in the behaviours that occur in an organisation. Wrong thinking leads to high maintenance behaviour.
If you want to help your team, then as a team player you have to become more valuable by growing and changing yourself first. Only then can you duplicate yourself and raise the level of expectancy for the rest of your team you now want to improve.
What do you need to change in yourself to grow you in 2015?
To keep leading, you have to keep growing – personal change is an inside decision. Without change there can be no progress. You cannot give what you do not have. You as a team player need to become a better team player and continue to improve your leadership skills and grow yourself so that others around you will grow as well.
Where do you need to grow?
Do you make your team members more effective by being around them?
Team players make other team members better.
You have to have a deep desire to grow yourself so you can grow your team, grow your business and grow in leadership. If you want your influence to increase as a leader and as a team player, the team you lead and the team you are part of need to believe that you are 100% committed to being a team player and this results in more people wanting to follow you because they feel valued by you. They know you truly appreciate what they bring to the team.
Over the last 26 years in business I’ve believed in people before they believed in me. I’ve wanted to help people before they’ve wanted to help me. I’ve wanted to add value to their lives before they wanted to add value to mine. Why? Because these 3 principles are how you stimulate growth in your teammates and your team as a whole. A team player really understands these 3 principles.
Who do you need to believe in?
Who do you need to help?
Whose life do you need to add more value to?
Team players realise they can’t lead from Position and Title and they need to earn and re-earn credibility and trust.
What do you need to do to have more credibility for you to lead more effectively?
What do you need to do to earn more trust?
Who doesn’t trust you?
In the book I wrote, “The Dream Is Everything”, one of the chapters was “Keep your Integrity intact.” Every decision impacts your life so chose carefully. Integrity means keeping your word. Character-based leadership is all about building trust – team players know this. Integrity is putting a higher price on your reputation – higher than any sum you can name. Making the right decisions for the right reasons, not for convenience.
Team players are loyal and are committed to others no matter what. British General John Monash (1865 – 1931) once said “I don’t give a damn for your loyal service when you think I’m right. When I really want it most is most is when you think I am wrong”. A team player is a person of substance and a person of integrity – they demand you be unmoved in your steadfast support of others on the team, even when they mess up.
What’s a choice you need to make right now?
Are the choices you’re making right now building trust, which is the glue of all relationships?
Are you genuinely loyal to your teammates?
There is no “I” in team – the team always comes first no matter what level of leadership you’re at.
“The way a team plays as a whole determines success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime”. Babe Ruth
