Teams and leaders

My relationship with sport has always been a bit of a struggle. I don’t believe I have any specific sports talent, and have spent my life as a solid committed team member. In the early days at high school we were offered the choice between rugby and hockey. I had braces on my teeth, and so I was told that hockey would be my choice. I continued playing hockey for a few years after school. When I moved to work at Vaal Reefs Gold Mine, I was lucky enough to be selected for the Western Transvaal (State) Under 21 indoor hockey side. The same year (1986) I was also selected for the Western Transvaal Senior side to play in the South African Country Districts. I was never the star player in any team, merely a team member. Years later I took up an interest in cycling. I heard and learned the term “domestique״, used to refer to the team players or “sloggers” who carried and assisted the team star. José Luis Arrieta was a domestique for Miguel Indurain. L’Équipe Newspaper said: “He no longer counts the hours, the years, spent with his nose in the wind trying to protect his leader for as long as possible”Arrieta summed up his career by saying “When you have the chance to start your career in so big a team and at the side of a champion as great as Indurain, you grow in the service of sacrifice. I don’t complain. To the contrary, I had the chance to live some wonderful moments. When Indurain won, or another rider for whom we had decided to work, it was a victory for all the team men as well“One of the major focus areas in my business life has always been on building and acknowledging the team that works with me. We often refer to teams in business as being behind us. In the mortgage broking industry they are often referred to as “back office”.  However, this does not adequately do justice to the notion of a team. Any success I had in broking would have to be largely attributed to my team. One of my key mantras about the team has always been that you cannot build a successful team until you empower the team members. This requires a level of trust that goes far beyond a book of rules. It requires the leader of the team to give up control. This does not mean letting team members do their own thing. It means giving up control and allowing team members to work to their potential.

Teams keep the engine running

The biggest challenge as a team member is an understanding of your individual role in the team. There are many stories and analogies about how teams are like an engine. The team will function when all the parts are moving correctly and each one is doing what it was designed to do. But a trivial, tiny part – say one tooth on the smallest cog in the machine that is not functioning can cause the entire engine to fail.Sometimes in business it is not too critical if the pieces don’t exactly fit. But when they do all fit, it is remarkable to see how all these small elements meld together to make a highly-tuned working machine.A completely offbeat version of this idea was presented in the opening scene from the movie Monty Python’s The Life of Brian (1979), where many disciples are on the mountain listening to the “Messiah”. The Messiah shouts “we are all individuals” to which the entire crowd on the mountain responds “we are all individuals”. One lone voice says “I’m not”.I believe that lone voice should be what you look for in a team member; empowered enough to stand out but also with an understanding of their role in the team.

An early blog asked the question “Why am I writing this?”

The answer is BECAUSE –

•        Because I want to share the ideas, stories, anecdotes and business tips and traps.
•        Because I want to pay it forward.
•        Because I want to help people grow their businesses.
•        Because I want managers to become better managers.
•        Because I believe that I can “Give your business the EDGE”

Til next time -Rael