Quick and Nimble by Adam Bryant (Business)
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EnglishAccents
North American (General)Transcript
Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
Companies are like teams. And for teams to succeed, all the players have to deliver so that their colleagues can count on them.
Are you dependable? Do you recognize your role as a part of the whole? Can people count on you to carry the ball not drop it and even anticipate plays so that you're in the right position when it matters. Do you take the initiative to go after the ball and not simply wait for it to come to you?
Call this characteristic trustworthiness, Call it dependability. What it means is that you recognize your role on the team and play your position. When everybody does that, the team can focus energy on executing the strategy rather than be distracted by worries over whether the teammates are going to do what they're supposed to do.
When companies can find the right balance, treating each other with respect while also setting clear expectations that everyone must play his or her role, The group becomes greater than the sum of its parts.
It's a lesson that Peter Löscher, the CEO of Seaman's learned as the captain of his volleyball team in high school and in college.
"At the end of the day, it's about fostering the best performance from the people on the team, he said. "It's less a question of how you train and your physical conditioning.
"The difference between a good team and a great team is usually mindset. When you watch games in sports, you see there's a moment, all of a sudden, when the team clicks. It's something that's always caught my attention; why and how that happens with teams.
"When you're in business. I think the underlying principle is trust. How do you establish within a team, a blind trust so that each person plays for the other?
Business is about lining up a leadership team or a group of people and you rally them behind a cause or a certain direction. But the underlying strength is the trust within the team so that you actually are no longer just playing individually at your best, but you're also trying to understand what you can do to make the team better.