From the course: Overcoming Obstacles and Building Team Resilience

Lead with others' strengths

From the course: Overcoming Obstacles and Building Team Resilience

Start my 1-month free trial

Lead with others' strengths

“

- The next essential element of resilient teams is all about ownership and buy-in. How do we create that real ownership of the mission? Well, there's one of two ways. You either hire the inspired, or you inspire your hires. And what I mean by that is, let's talk about hiring the inspired. When you bring somebody onto your team, make sure they're truly and deeply inspired by the mission, right? That they are doing something they'd almost do without getting paid. They have to be deeply inspired by the mission of your organization. And then how do we inspire people that are already on our team? Well, a lot of it lies in finding out what people are great at, and letting them lead with their strength. And also asking for people's input, because people embrace the things that they themselves helped create, and also discovering and delivering your team members why. Do you know what the why is for everybody on your team? 'Cause it's going to be different for every single person on the team. And a lot of it's not just about, you know, making more money, right? Discover what the why is for everybody on your team. If you can deliver it to them, they're going to have a heck of a lot more buy-in when it comes to creating the outcomes for your organization. Now, there was an incredible story about ownership and buy-in from the early days of adventure racing, back in the Borneo Rainforest. This is my first adventure race ever. The top French team had taken second place in the Raid Gauloises the year before. And they were a mission coming back to win this year. And are on the way running to the start line on race day, one of their teammates broke his ankle. So they had a tough decision to make. What on earth do we do now? Do we start disqualified? Because they don't have the right number of team members on the team, or do we walk around the rain forest and see if we can find a guy to come race with us? I'm watching this whole saga unfold. They start knocking on the huts in this farming village. And one door slowly opens, and they quickly assess, this is the guy that will fit the available LYCRA outfit. And so they're begging him to come out, and they're dressing him in the outfit, and they're telling him to kiss his children goodbye. Because he's going to be gone do this little thing called an Adventure Race. And bless this guy's heart. He doesn't speak a word of French. They don't speak a word of English. He's never done any of these sports. But the first thing that you see is that he's truly inspired by the mission. He's inspired by the teamwork of it. And then they further inspire him by capitalizing on his unique talent and strength, which is local knowledge. And they put him right out front from the start line. And it created some incredible ownership in Dawa Mutang. He literally learned to ride a bike, to paddle a boat, to use climbing gear as they got to those sections of the race. And believe it or not, they actually took second place out of 63 teams. And I know there were 63 teams 'cause guests whose team was 63rd. And also that what makes us valuable to our team members isn't necessarily based on what we know. Sometimes what makes us valuable is what we're willing to learn along the way. And very often the rookie on the team or the outside resource can bring such an interesting and unique background and perspective. They can often be the linchpin to your team's success. So always embrace those outside resources in rookies. Oh and when last but not least, that sometimes the universe comes and knocks on our hut right, in our life. And we may not be ready for what's on the other side of that door. But if we have the courage to open the door, and get in the game, especially if we have a great team around us, we always discover that we're braver than we believe, stronger than we seem and smarter than we think, right? So open the door and get in that game.

Contents