By: Brian
Tracy
A 20-year study at Stanford University examined
the career paths of thousands of executives to determine what
qualities they either had or developed that enabled them to move
ahead the most rapidly. Researchers concluded that there were
two primary qualities that, more than any others, were
indispensable for men and women who were promoted to positions
of great responsibility.
The first quality was the ability to function well in a crisis.
It was the ability of the executive to keep his or her cool when
the company or the department faced serious challenges or
setbacks. It was the ability to calmly analyze the facts, gather
information, reach conclusions, make decisions, and then
mobilize the other people to respond effectively and solve the
problem.
However, this quality, the researchers found, could be tested
only in a real crisis. It was not possible to create a phony
crisis to tell how well an executive would perform.
The second quality that was identified among the fast-trackers
was the ability to function well as a member of a team. This
tendency toward cooperation rather than confrontation was
evident early in a person’s career. It was the primary quality
that senior executives looked for and rewarded the most. The
ability to be a good team player inevitably led to greater and
greater opportunities to function as a member of more and more
important teams. In fact, teamwork is so important that it is
virtually impossible for you to reach the height of your
capabilities, or make the money that you want, without becoming
very good at it.
You can make the decision to be an excellent team player in
everything you do at work and at home. Your aim should be to
seek out every opportunity to demonstrate your ability to
contribute to the success of a group of people in accomplishing
large objectives. And you can start right where you are.
Let’s start off with the definition of team. A team is two or
more people who combine their talents and abilities to
accomplish a specific goal or series of goals. A team, by
definition, is made up largely of equals, men and women who are
different only in their areas of skill and who are peers when
they sit down together as a work group.
In this sense, you and your spouse are a team. You and your
coworkers make up a team. When you volunteer in any charitable
organization, all the people you work with are members of a
team. If you have a social circle and you plan activities
together, you are functioning as a team.
A team is formed to take advantage of the power of synergy.
Synergy means that the total is greater than the sum of its
parts. For example, let’s say that four individuals working
alone will produce four units of work; when they are combined as
a team, the four individuals may produce five or six or eight or
even 10 units of work. Many jobs simply cannot be done by one
person working alone, whether it’s carrying a heavy box or
carrying out a major corporate project. A team needs to be
formed whenever the task at hand is greater than the capacity of
any individual working alone.
Over the last few decades, the concept of teamwork has evolved
rapidly. We came out of World War II with a “command and
control” mentality. Most of the heads of American corporations,
large and small, had been military officers, of various ranks,
during the war. They brought their training into the workplace.
Their approach to management was the hierarchy or pyramid style,
with the president at the top, the senior executives below him,
the junior executives below them, and so on, all the way down to
the workers and support staff who made up the base of the
pyramid. The orders traveled in one direction: downward.
Information filtered up slowly. People were expected to do their
job, collect their paycheck and be satisfied. However, two
forces have converged to transform this approach to management
dramatically. First is the rapid rate of change and the
increasing complexity of even the smallest business operation
due to the advent of the computer age. Everyone has critical
skills and knowledge that are necessary to many other people if
the job is to get done on time and to an acceptable standard of
quality.
For example, in our office, our receptionist has been promoted
to the position of “front-office manager.” Some years ago, when
I started in business, the job of the receptionist was to answer
the telephone and direct the callers to the appropriate people.
Today, however, her job is far more complicated and, therefore,
more important. Since she is the first contact that most
customers have with our business, her personality and
temperament are extremely important. The prospective client who
telephones begins forming an impression of us the instant that
the telephone is answered. Then, because our companies are doing
so many things, she must tactfully ascertain exactly how the
caller may be best served and who is the best person in the
company to direct the telephone call to. In many cases, there
are requests for further information, and follow-up telephone
calls go through our front-office manager. Her ability to handle
these calls effectively, to direct calls to the right people, to
take accurate messages, and to act as the core person in a
network of communications, makes her job so important that it is
essential that she sit in on all staff meetings and be aware of
everything that is going on.
Your job in your company also requires that you know a lot about
what is going on everywhere else, as well as be thoroughly
conversant with what you do. And the fastest and most accurate
way of keeping current with what is going on is to develop and
maintain a network of contacts, an informal team of people
within your workplace who keep you informed and who you keep
informed in turn.
The old methods of command and control now exist only at the
old-line companies, many of which are fighting for their very
survival. Today, men and women want a high degree of
participation and involvement in their work. They want an
opportunity to discuss and thoroughly understand what they are
doing and why they are doing it. People are no longer satisfied
to be cogs in a big machine. They want to have an integral role
in achieving goals that they participated in setting in the
first place.
Being a team player is no longer something that is optional.
Today, it is mandatory. If you want to achieve anything of
consequence, you will need the help and cooperation of lots of
people. Your main objective is to structure everything you do in
such a way that, because you are constantly cooperating and
working well with others, they are continually open to helping
you achieve your goals as well. Now, the major reason why teams
do not function well, and why people end up not making their
full contribution to the success of the teams, is lack of
clarity. All the studies of team building and team development
focus in on the importance of everyone’s being absolutely clear
about what the team is trying to accomplish. This can be in the
form of a goal or objective handed down by senior management, or
it can be the result of discussion and participation by the
various team members. In any case, everyone must know what is to
be done, to what standard, by what deadline, and what the roles
and responsibilities of each team member will be in the
achievement of that goal.
One of your key concerns is to be absolutely clear about exactly
what is expected of you. If for any reason you are not sure,
bring it up and ask about it until you have no doubt whatsoever.
Then get busy, do exactly what is expected of you, and do it
well.
Remember, in all your interactions with your team, your role is
to be supportive and helpful. Your role is not to challenge,
criticize or argue, but to look for solutions and for
opportunities to help other people make their maximum
contribution as well. When you sit in on a team meeting, you are
“onstage.” Everyone is watching you. The best team players I
have ever seen are those whose comments to the other members of
the team are in the form of suggestions on how things can be
done better. The best team members are always offering to help
other people after the meetings to get on top of some aspect of
their work. This focus on collaboration and cooperation is seen
by everybody and marks you as a person to be both liked and
respected. Many men and women have kicked their careers into the
stratosphere by taking on a small responsibility and doing such
a good job with it that they came to the attention of important
people both inside and outside their organizations.
For example, some years ago, the chairman of a conglomerate for
which I worked asked me if I would set up the importation and
distribution of the Suzuki motor vehicles into Western Canada.
Even though I knew nothing about automobile importation, I
jumped on the opportunity with enthusiasm. For the next three
months, I threw my whole heart into learning everything I could
about the importation and distribution of foreign automobiles.
In the following two-and-a-half years, we imported and sold more
than $25 million worth of vehicles, through 65 dealerships, all
of which I had set up from scratch. Then one day, I got a call
from the president of another billion-dollar organization. He
offered me three times my current salary if I would take charge
of his $275 million development business. He told me later that
the determining factor of the offer he had made me was my proven
ability with Suzuki to put together a team to achieve successful
financial results. And it will be the same for you.
Continually look for opportunities to get onto teams and to make
valuable contributions. Volunteer for additional assignments.
Focus on high-priority tasks, and finish what you start on time.
Do excellent work. And remember that, as Confucius said, “He who
would be master must be servant of all.”
