I recall how I dreaded attending the team meetings simply because I knew some of the team members had not bought in the vision. All they cared about was their paycheck at the end of the month. They did not mind spending their time on social media or some even confessed to watching movies during working hours and this was possible because they would use earphones and pretend as if they are working. My heart would sink whenever I thought of how we could improve the team. There was gossiping amongst the team members. The visionary would occasionally send out a congratulatory email to all team members if one team member struck a good deal to encourage the others. However, there were those team members who would not congratulate the team member. Contrary to the desire of the visionary the email would lead to feelings of jealous and competition. John C Maxwell states that, ‘Teamwork makes the dream work, but a vision becomes a nightmare when the leader has a big dream and a bad team.’
I had an opportunity to go to a circus and watch a group of young people from Cape town doing aerobics. As I watched I wished the team I had worked with earlier had the same spirit of oneness as they did the tricks and gymnastics. As much as they had taken a lot of time to practice, I thought it took so much trust to be lifted in the air by teammates and not be afraid that one would make a mistake or maybe deliberately move for them to fall. When team members had to carry each other and hold on to a string attached to the roof. As I watched them, I was amazed at the level of teamwork. There was trust in each other and oneness of purpose. Alfred North Whitehead “No-one who achieves success does so without the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledges this help with gratitude.”
Sometimes what causes the team members not to be enthusiastic about the vision is because the visionary has not communicated it and in such a way that they find themselves benefiting from it.
Are your team members clear about what the businesses’ vision is?
What methods do you use to communicate the vision to the team members?
How often do you remind them of the vision?
What are you doing to make them feel that if they support the vision, they will benefit from it?
Do you listen to the team members when they give feedback on the vision?
Do you act consistently on the vision and how it aligns with the business’s goals?
“Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” Jack Welch
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