Over the last week, I’ve seen multiple ways individuals have come together to work as a team to get a job done in different industries. At work, I’ve watched the “take-over” maneuver where the principles just take control of a project leaving the rest of the team to ponder what they are doing and how to keep up with their high-performance pace.
As a board member, I watched the “expert” maneuver where, those that are experts in the field, lead the team in making decisions based on their knowledge to execute the tasks at hand. And finally, as a sports team, I’ve watched the typical “coaching” maneuver where the coach is directing the team to learn new systems of play.
All are coming from a place of helping the team along and getting them to see what the “visionaries” see. The potential of the project, organization and team. The key in order for all of this to happen is of course communication. It’s a running theme in everything we do. There’s a joke a comedian says to the crowd: “What is the most important part of a relationship?” The audience replies, “communication!” Then the comedian says, “what is the biggest problem in relationships?” The audience replies, “communication!”
Despite all our platforms for sharing it’s the one-to-one, face-to-face conversations that I’ve found to make the biggest impact. It’s about not being afraid to speak up, ask questions and just call it how it is, for the betterment of the team. Leadership comes in all shapes and forms and like Simon Sinek says:
“Leading is not the same as being the leader. Being the leader means you hold the highest rank, either by earning it, good fortune or navigating internal politics. Leading, however, means that others willingly follow you—not because they have to, not because they are paid to, but because they want to.”
Richelle Sibolboro 