What Makes a Winning Team

Indulge me? Voicemail answers most phones in Fortune 500 companies today and even some Small Businesses. There are still those companies around who actually use oxygen-breathing human beings to answer calls ringing into their business.

The people answering the phones ringing into a multi-billon dollar corporation would be sorely missed if they went on strike. Customers would learn almost immediately of the chaos their absence caused. If the janitorial staff decided to join the phone operators, even more chaos. Customers ring into multi-billion dollar corporations daily and are never aware of the CEO or COO's absence.

Each link within the company's infrastructure is an important link to the company's success. This is not measured by title, salary or tenure. Each member of the team should feel their daily presence is necessary for the company's well-being. Full-time employees spend more time at their jobs than they do with their families. Therefore, the workplace must offer an environment conducive to maximizing productivity. This includes the physical as well as the mental. Hostility in the workplace should not be commonplace.

Management must encourage employees to come forward without the threat of job insecurity if the employees express their conce
s. In my experience, blue collar workers will talk among themselves about "what's wrong and need to be fixed around here" instead of going through the proper channels. This of course, is viral and can reduce performance. Also, I've known blue collar employees who have spoken up in confidence but that confidence was betrayed by management. This should never happen.

Each employee should be reminded of their value to the company. Each employee should know what is expected of them and what they can expect from the company. A satisfactory work environment is business as usual. An outstanding work environment is business operating with higher standards. There is absolutely nothing appealing about mediocrity. No matter the 'collar'...a ring around the collar is unsightly. Every member of the team is needed to be a Winning Team!

What makes a Winning Team? The team's leadership makes a winning team! I've often said, paperwork is managed. People are lead. They are lead by example. Rolling up your sleeves to tackle the job, no matter the job or your position or rank, is what those working under you should be allowed to see. Those working under you should know you can be trusted and your door is open but not a revolving door for gossip and undermining others on the team. (This includes former team members, as well.)

If you speak against members no longer on the team, they know you'll do the same if/when they are no longer part of the team. This does not build trust but destroys it. It's also unprofessional and along the line of how middle-school kids would act. A great leader is confident and humble; not arrogant and obnoxious. A great leader is elevated by his/her team; not by constantly patting him/herself on the back. A great leader puts him/herself last and the team puts him/her first, at the front...to lead!

Anonymous said many things I would have said had she not said them first. Anonymous said, "A good leader inspires others with confidence in him; a great leader inspires them with confidence in themselves."