the 17 laws of teamwork
TRANSCRIPT
The 17 Laws of Teamwork
1. The Law of Significance
One Is Too Small a Number to Achieve Greatness
The Law of Significance
One Is Too Small a Number to Achieve Greatness
It has been said that nothing was ever achieved by an individual acting alone.
Einstein said, ”Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labours of my fellow men, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received.”
Lyndon Johnson said: “There are no problems we cannot solve together, and very few that we can solve ourselves.”
Dr Allan Fromme said, “People have been known to achieve more as a result of working with others than against them.”
2. The Law of The Big Picture
The Goal Is More Important than the Role
The Law of The Big PictureThe Goal Is More Important than the
Role
It has been said, “If you don’t know where you are going you will end up somewhere else.”
To build successful teams, never forget that every person on a team has a role to play, and every role plays its part in contributing to the bigger picture.
All though the Macdonald brothers started the franchise, Ray Krog bought it from them and developed it into what it is today. He said, “No one of us is more important than the rest of us.”
When you see the big picture correctly, you serve the team more quickly.
3.The Law of The Niche
All Players have a Place Where They Add the Most Value
The Law of The NicheAll Players have a Place Where They
Add the Most Value
NFL Champion coach Vince Lombardie observed, “ The achievements of an organisation are the results of the combined effort of each individual.”
This is true, but creating a winning team doesn’t come just from having the right individuals. You may have talented individuals, but if each person is not doing what adds value to the team, you won’t achieve your potential as a team.
If you know what your niche is but aren’t working in it, start planning a transition. Try something new, do something different.
It has been said, “If you do not control change, change will control you.”
4. The Law Of Mount Everest
As the Challenge escalates, The Need for Teamwork elevates
The Law Of Mount EverestAs the Challenge escalates, The Need for Teamwork elevates
On May 29, 1953, Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary accomplished what no other human being ever had. They stood on the summit of Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak!
Did they do it alone? The answer is no! Climbing Mount Everest takes teamwork. Two-man teams would work their way up the mountain, doing the task they were given. They would do this to the point of exhaustion and go no further. Two teams are assigned the task of attempting the final ascent. If one fails, the other may succeed. This is the Law of Mount Everest.
In his book, ‘The 17 Laws of Teamwork’ John C Maxwell stated: “When the team you have doesn’t match up to the team of your dreams, then you have only two choices: Give up your dream, or grow up your team.”
Final Thought
Enthusiastic Beginner – needs direction Disillusioned Learner – needs coaching Cautious Completer – needs support Self-reliant Achiever – needs responsibility
Team members and their needs are based on the category that defines them:
5. The Law of The Chain
The Strength of The Team Is Impacted by its Weakest Link
The Law of The ChainThe Strength of The Team Is Impacted by its Weakest Link
When the Exon Valdez cast off from the Alyeska Pipeline Terminal on the evening of March 23, the voyage began like any other.
An expert ship’s pilot guided the vessel through the Valdez Narrows, and handed the ship over to its captain, Joe Hazelwood. He ordered the ship on a particular course, turned control over to the Third Mate, and left the bridge.
One officer, rather than two, remained in the wheelhouse as the tanker navigated the Valdez Narrows, and again after the pilot left the ship.
The officer on deck had been overworked; fatigue is thought to have contributed to the navigation error that followed.
The ship’s captain had been drinking in the hours before he took command of the ship.
What followed has been regarded as one of the world’s worst ecological disasters.
The cost to the company: $3.5 billion.
Life is a journey but ……………… not everyone will take the journey
As team players we must be prepared for change, or we will not be able to grow or conquer new territory. Holding on to the status quo can add to one’s successes, as well as to one’s failures. The measure of one’s success will depend on which one we choose, and when.
Life is a journey but …………………. not everyone should take the journey
Not everyone wishes to accompany you on your journey. They may have other plans. The best that can be done is to help as far as you can, and to wish them well in what they are doing. Success may be theirs, but just not for us all together.
Life is a journey but ……………… not everyone can take the journey
Somebody who is a weak link on your team might be capable of becoming a star on another team.
It is important that we allow people to find their niche.
Final thought
The team cannot continually cover up its weaknesses.
We tend to judge ourselves on our best qualities while we measure others by their worst.
The truth is that every person is responsible for his own growth first. We must learn to grow ourselves first before we can grow others.
6. The Law of the Catalyst
Winning Teams have Players Who Make Things happen
The Law of the CatalystWinning Teams Have Players Who Make Things Happen
From 1982 to 1998 he was one of the most prolific basketball players in the world, and was named as one of the 50 greatest players in the National Basketball League.
Michael Jordan was such a person. When something had to be done the ball always went to him.
Three Kinds of Players
People who don’t want the ballPeople who want the ball but shoudn’tPeople who want the ball and should
People who don’t want the ball
Some people have all the competence to play the ball, but do not have the abililty to come through for the team in high pressure situations, and they know it.
They don’t want the responsibility of carrying the team to victory.
The responsibility should not be given to them but they should be allowed to play in the areas of their strengths.
People Who Want The ball But Shoudn’t
If the position in the team is more important than the role we play on the team it can have disastrous consequenses for the team.
Be willing to pass te ball.The team will win if you pass the ball
but can lose if you don’t.
People Who Want The Ball and Should
On any winning team you will find them: They are able to push, pull or carry the team to new levels when the going gets tough.
They are the catalyst
Catalysts are not consultants. They don’t recommend a course of action. They take responsibility for making it happen.
Part of being a catalyst is sharing your gift with others to make them better.
You can’t give what you don’t have.
People do not learn from what we teach, but from who we are.
John C Maxwell
7. The Law of The Compass
Vision Gives Team Members Direction and Confidence
The Law of The CompassVision Gives Team Members
Direction and Confidence
IBM has been around for nearly a hundred years. During the 1930s and the depression years it flourished as a leader and an innovator of new technologies.
In 1979 its revenues totalled more than $8 billion annually. But for all the history of advances it had made, by the late 1980s and early 1990s, the company was struggling. It suffered $8 billion in losses every year. In 1993, IBM got a new CEO, Lou Gerstner. He began recruiting key members for his team.
When he appointed Abby Kohnstamm as senior vice president of marketing, things started to change.
At the time the company was a fragmented, decentralised organisation with more than a dozen quasi-autonomous businesses, and 70 ad-agency partners worldwide.
He got rid of all but one agency to do its marketing.
The company adopted a single focus, that of e-business, and through proper marketing, set the company on a new course.
The marketing focus had a remarkable positive effect on the IBM’s employees, as noted by Bill Etherington, who was the senior vice president and group executive over sales and distribution.The campaign has galvanized the employees.
That just goes to show, vision gives team members direction and confidence.
Checking our CompassMoral Compass (look above)
It helps if all the people on the team are labouring for the right reasons.
The Captain of any sports team should never be red-carded.
Integrity and character and compentence in team players will always lead to winning combinations for the right reason.
Checking our CompassAn Intuitive Compass (look within)
Passion and conviction comes only from within.
Andrew Carnegie said, “A great business is seldom if ever built up, except on lines of strictest integrity.”
It is not always about doing things right, but about doing the right thing. The success of any team depends on the team members’ ability to work hard to bring the vision to fruition.
Checking our CompassAn Historical Compass (look behind)
And old saying teaches the following: ”Don’t remove the fence before you know why it’s there.” You never know; there might be a bull on the other side!
A compelling vision should build on the past. Never make light of the contributions of the past, but create a connection in the present between the past and the future.
People won’t reach for the future until they have touched the past.
Checking our CompassA Directional Compass (look Ahead)
Poet Henry David Thoreau wrote, “ If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours.”
Vision provides direction but part of that direction comes from having a sense of purpose.
A goal line is not called a goal line for nothing. It gives direction and purpose to the team.
Checking our CompassA Strategic Compass (look Around)
A goal without a strategy is nothing more than a daydream.
Vince Abner said, ”It is not enough to stare at the steps; we must step up the stairs.” Strategy allow us to use resources that are available to us to move us forward.
Knowing where you are going is fine, but you still need to find the road.
Checking our CompassA Visionary Compass (look Beyond)
We know that we do not know it all. Therefore it is important that we look beyond the shortcomings of others to find the potential for greatness.
People need to be challenged. It is one thing to show up. It’s another to get yourself to grow up, to reach your potential.
King Solomon said, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
8. The Law of the Bad Apple
Rotten Attitudes Ruin a Team
The Law of The Bad AppleRotten Attitudes Ruin a Team
Lou Holtz said, “ You’ve got to have great athletes to win … You can’t win without good athletes, but you can lose with them. “
Good attitudes among players do not guarantee success, but bad attitudes guarantee its failure.
The winner’s edge is not in a gifted birth, in a high IQ, or in talent. The winner’s attitude is in attitude not aptitude.
Anytime a relationship is unequal, it cannot last – whether you are giving more than you get, or getting more than you deserve.
A good attitude can make a team succeed, but a bad attitude will surely lead to failure.
How do you know if you are a bad apple?Sometimes you only discover who you are when you leave your position because you thought you were undervalued. If you do not succeed in your new position, then you have most likely overestimated your value or underestimated what the organisation was doing to help you succeed.
The Peter Principle states, “If Peter has a problem with Mary, John and Mark, then Peter is the problem.”
-John C Maxwell
If you have a bad apple on your team, give him clear expectations and an opportunity to change. Then hold him accountable. If he changes it is a win for the team. If he doesn’t remove him from the team.
9. The Law of Countability
Teammates Must Be Able to Count on Each Other When It Counts
The Law of CountabilityTeammates Must Be Able to Count on
Each Other When It Counts
The formula for countability is:
Character + Competence + Commitment + Consistency + Cohesion = Countability
Anytime you desire to build a team, you have to begin by building character in the individuals who make up the team.
Robert Cook said, “ There is no substitute for character. You can buy brains, but you cannot buy character.”
If you had to undergo an operation, would you rather be operated on by a good surgeon who was a bad person, or a bad surgeon who was good person?
It puts things into perspective.
Competence matters, but would you not rather have both?
Commitment relies on us being there for one another when times are tough. Can I count on you to be there for the team?
Teams succeed or fail based on teammates’ commitment to one another on the team.
If you want your teammates to have confidence in you, to know they can count on you day in and day out; then be consistent in doing the right thing.
Teammates need to develop cohesion. There’s an old saying when it comes to teams: Either we’re pulling together or we’re pulling apart.
The greatest compliment you can receive is being counted on.
10. The Law Of The Price Tag
The Team Fails to Reach Its Potential When It fails to Pay the Price
The Law Of The Price TagThe Team Fails to Reach Its Potential When It fails to Pay the Price
Montgomery Ward owned a company that started off as a retailer, and was founded in 1872. He came up with the idea of selling items in a catalogue through mail order, thus eliminating the middleman. When the owner retired the company was a thriving business.
When Sears,Roebuck and Co. started their catalogue business, business kept on doing well in spite of the competition. Robert E Wood was brought in to run the company, and seeing that the retail sales were booming, wanted to open stores in the cities.
The catalogue business was catering mostly for the rural areas,but Wood saw that more people were moving to the cities. The owners did not want to pay the price and were therefore unwilling to change.
Sears opened their first stores in 1927, and by 1954 has become the largest retailer in America.
Montgomery and Ward opened some stores but were not aggressive and committed enough, and after 128 years in business had to file for bankruptcy.
If a team doesn’t reach its potential, seldom is ability or resources the issue. It is almost always a payment issue.
If everyone doesn’t pay the price to win then everyone will pay the price of losing.
People tend to believe that once they have accomplished their goals they no longer have to grow.
Ray Krog said, “As long as you’re green, you’re growing. As soon as you are ripe, you start to rot.”
Remember:
• Your team will reach its potential only if you reach your potential.
• When you give your best to the world, the world returns the favor. – H. Jackson Brown
• You seldom get more than you have paid for.
11.The Law of the Scoreboard
The Team Can Make Adjustments When It Knows Where it Stands
The Law of the ScoreboardThe Team Can Make Adjustments When It Knows Where it Stands
If a team is to accomplish its goals, it has to know where it stands.
Our losses against England and Australia in Cricket in two World Cups were the result of not keeping an eye on the scoreboard.
In 1984 Disney faced a hostile takeover. They had to make adjustments in the way they were doing business. By bringing new talent into the business they were able to make the adjustments that were required, and in so doing return the company to its former glory.
If you and your team want to become better, you have to grow. If you want to become better, you have to change in the right direction. You may be working hard, but are you succeeding? Are you winning?
12. The Law of The Bench
Great Teams Have Great Depth
The Law of The BenchGreat Teams Have Great Depth
Any team that wants to excel must have good substitutes as well as good starters. If you want your team to perform well over the long haul, you’ve got to build your bench. A great team with no bench eventually collapses.
Starters are frontline people who directly add value to the organization or who directly influence its course.
The bench is made up of the people who indirectly add value to the organisation or who support the starters.
The New Zealand rugby team understands the Law of The Bench, having been able to perform at its best for many years.
Every human being has value, and every player on a team adds value to the team in some way.
Why should the starters care for the Bench players?
• Today’s bench players may be tomorrow’s stars.
• Given the opportunity, encouragement and training anyone can become an effective team player.
• If supporting players are successful they make the rest of the team look good. John Wooden said, “The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team.”
When looking for players to be on your team, you either find a person for the postion, or you find a good player and create the position.
You cannot solve tomorrow’s problems with today’s solutions.
It is important that players keep on growing and improving.
The only place that does not lose its people is a cemetary.
The revolving door policy states that if any player leaves, replace him or her with an even better player. If you do this your team will gain momentum.
If people become good team players and then leave it is regrettable; grow good players anyway. Rather have good people that leave than have bad ones that stay.
If you want a great team, concentrate on the players that you’re gaining, the players you’re losing, and the players you are developing.
Final thought:
If your treatment of your players does not match their value, you run the risk of losing them.
13. The Law of Identity
Shared Values Define The Team
The Law of IdentityShared Values Define The Team
Just as personal values influence and guide an individual’s behaviour, organisation and team values influence and guide a team’s behaviour.
As rapid changes in an organisation take place, relationships that existed before can no longer act as the glue that connect team members together.
What it takes is a shared vision together with shared values.
The Value of Values
If team players do not know what their team’s values are – and live them out – their chances of working and succeeding as a unit, and reaching their potential, are very small.
Finding common ground, not compromise, is the key to setting the foundation for good team values.Values of the individual must match up to the values of the team.
In the 1980’s television series Dallas, JR Ewing, a corrupt businessman, made the following statement, “Once you give up your ethics, the rest is a piece of cake.”
If the value system of a team is strong it will attract others with the same values.
Strong values will give you an identity that others will want to identify with.
14.The Law of Communication
Interaction Fuels Action
The Law of Communication Interaction Fuels Action
In 1994 when Gordon Bethume took over Continental Airlines, it was a mess. It had the worst record of losing luggage and the highest number of complaints for every 1000 customers. The Company was staring its third bankruptcy in the face.
The bottom line was that co-operation and communication was at an all-time low.
To save the company Bethune was going to have to change the culture.He believed if he could win the communication battle, he could get the employees to work together again.
Rules and manuals must never take the place of good communication and the use of judgement.
Bethune’s communication policy was – and is - simple: “Unless it’s dangerous or illegal for us to share information, we share it.”
Effective teams have teammates who are constantly talking to one another.
When communicating, always be consistent, clear and courteous.
Always be prepared to listen.
Be honest in your communication.
Can you do this?
Ask someone to ask you the following three questions:
What must I keep on doing?What must I stop doing?What should I be doing?
Working together means winning together.
Final thought:
Two horses competed in an event to see who could pull the heaviest sled.
The champion pulled 4500 pounds and the runner-up pulled 4400 pounds. When yoked together they pulled an astounding 12000 pounds.
If there are any communication-barriers between team members, we need to remove them. That is our responsibility.
15. The Law Of The Edge
The difference between two equally talented teams Is leadership
The Law Of The EdgeThe Difference between two equally
Talented Teams Is leadership
• Personnel determines the potential of the team.
• Vision determines the direction of the team.
• Work ethic determines the preparation of the team.
• Leadership determines the success of the team.
Rugby teaches a few leadership lessons:
John Smith may not be the best hooker. He is there because of his leadership.
Bobby Skinstadt may have been a better player than Gary Teichmann, but Gary’s record as a leader was unequaled.
To really understand what will give one the edge study the 21 Laws of Leadership.
Each one of us is a leader.
• At home we have to take the lead with our children.• At school we take the lead in the classroom.• On the sports field we take the lead in coaching the
players.• In subject meetings we take the lead in leading a team.
When applying the principle of shared leadership we lead.
A team that that tries to function like a democracy never gets anything done, but anyone can lead.
It took Joseph B Strauss 20 years to design, and then to redesign, the golden Gate Bridge. When at first he discovered the flaws in his own design he relied on those around him to come up with alternative plans.
Everything rises and falls on leadership.
You don’t have to be the leader to be a leader.
Always value the value of leadership and grow your own leadership abilities. If you add value to yourself, you will be able to add value to others.
16. The Law of High Morale
When you are winning nothing hurts.
The Law of High MoraleWhen you are winning nothing hurts.
Gymnast Kerri Krug received her Gold medal with her six teammates. After tearing two ligaments in her ankle she competed in the vault to win it for her team. Even though they had the gold in the bag she went on competing because of the high morale that was evident in the team.
She knew that if she made the jump it would cost her any further participation in the 1996 Olympics; she jumped anyway. This is what she said, “When you do well, you think it is worth it. When you sacrifice so much and you finally do well it feels really good.”
When you’re winning nothing hurts.
The teacher knows that under the right circumstances, students love to grow. The coach knows that under the right circumstances, players are able to win.
17. The Law of Dividends
Investing in the Team Compounds Over Time.
The Law of Dividends Investing in the Team Compounds Over
Time.
The time, money and effort required to develop team members doesn’t change the team overnight, but developing them always pays.
Are you giving a good return for what your teammates are investing in you? Grow all you can, and determine to give the team a good return on its investment in you.
Thank you