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In recent events in my life and at work I have gone through quiet a change in my thinking. I would class it as a growth spurt.  A confirmation of the Lord working in my life due to the way I handled the situations.

While driving home this evening I was thinking through the events of the day and the events that have transpired over the last 6 weeks. The way frustrations have reached boiling point, how slowly a group of people can reach a critical mass and our inability to acknowledge that even our leaders / bosses are human.

How a dirty channel of communication can lead to mixed signals. How selective hearing can lead to dangerous interpretations and how quickly misunderstandings can turn into a festering puss infected wound that only heals when it gets lanced and bleeds out. Disgusting comparison you might think but in all honesty I think it is probably the least disgusting example I could find as opposed to what it really looks like.

Anyways, on my way home I started thinking “team”. Defining what a team is and in my humble opinion a team is a group of people focused on a single objective and working to one another’s strengths while compensating for one another’s weakness’s by additional effort. A single unit, driven to completing the objective. The satisfaction that people get from team work and the end result varies and why they get that satisfaction probably varies even more but there is a degree of satisfaction. A team is not a group of people sitting together enjoying casual conversation and passing jokes. It is a dedicated group of people focused on achieving an objective and actively striving to be the best at what the team does.

Now that sounds cool and I can hear everyone going “hear hear!”. There is an element I haven’t mentioned and you probably going to swear at me when I say this but I am going to say it anyway. With every team comes a leader. Teams need leaders, every member of a team might be a leader in their own right BUT the team needs one leader. Now what we often forget in our pursuit of excellence is that our leaders are fallible too. That they make mistakes. Next thing, the team leader is also a member of the team. They are on the same side, after the same objectives and get the same amount of satisfaction from seeing the team succeed as the other team members do.

That being said, if a leader is not fulfilling their duties to the best of their abilities according to our standards, why do we not assist them? Why do we not carry their weaknesses as we carry our other members weaknesses? A team can only succeed with a strong leader and a leader can only be strong with his team behind him. This applies in corporate environments too. Lets direct the fire where it is required, at the targets and objectives we strive to eliminate / complete, lets not turn it on ourselves or our team members. If a team member, including management, is doing something wrong, handle it graciously and openly. Let them know the same way that you must be prepared to be told when you are not measuring up. Just like paying your T.V. license, it is the right thing to do.

I got a good feeling about my team after the events that transpired today and by God’s grace we will fight through our projects and produce results that set trends as opposed to following them.

Lord bless.

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