Teamership: Courageous commitment
Teamership creates an environment where individuals are supported to make courageous commitment. Photo by Aarón Blanco Tejedor on Unsplash
The way that an individual approaches their role matters. An overly simplistic (and yet useful) distinction is to describe an individual’s approach at any given time as one of the following two plans.
Plan A. Prioritise keeping their job.
Plan B. Prioritise making their best possible contribution to their teams.
Plan A will see an individual do everything that they can to avoid being fired. They will put effort into meeting deadlines and producing acceptable work. They will also ensure that they have not taken any unnecessary risks, covered their trail, followed the rules and generally pleasing their boss.
Plan B doesn’t negate Plan A, it builds on it. Understanding that they are able to contribute more value by understanding the context of their team and organisation, seeks the best outcomes. This can mean following the rules - and equally it can mean challenging the status quo. It can mean taking calculated risks in service of the team and organisation.
Plan A is compliant.
Plan B is courageous.
Plan A leads to individuals doing enough to not get fired. Plan B is striving for their best work. There is a huge gap between those two outcomes. We can use traditional methods of carrot and stick to get most people to work with Plan A in mind. It is what drove the Industrial Revolution in the 18th Century.
Plan B is at the choice of individuals. It is the discretionary effort that people will opt into (or not) based on their assessment of the culture that they are working within.
Teamership creates an environment where individuals are supported to choose Plan B.
Some questions for you to consider this week:
Do you ever notice yourself prioritising compliance?
What stops you from being courageous more often?
How could you support others to strive for their best work more often?