If someone asked you to combine an apple, a chair, a slice of bread, a steak, and a sparkplug and make soup you’d probably tell them something I shouldn’t repeat here. But in today’s world, that’s often the situation a manager faces when building a team. Not just disparate people, that’s to be expected in a diverse workforce, but what I call the “me,” “but me” and “I” attitudes so prevalent in our current culture.

• “I” people see no real value in the camaraderie, strokes, mutual help, etc. offered by teams.

• “Me” people believe that they are so important that they, their wishes, etc., take precedence over everything.

• “But me” people believe that laws, rules, etc., apply only to others.

Unfortunately, I’ve known many mangers (and worked for a couple) who grew frustrated trying to build a strong team and never understood why they didn’t succeed. They preached team importance, worked at being team players, had their people participate in team-building exercises, devoured books on building teams. The problem was that their MAP was infused with one or more of the above attitudes and it showed.

It always shows. People are neither stupid nor blind, they notice. “Do as I say, not as I do” has never worked.

So here’s some advice, not new, but constantly right: If you’re not going to walk your talk then you’re probably better off shutting up!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 9th, 2006 at 2:46 pm and is filed under Business info, Communication, Culture, Motivation, Retention. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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