I applied one of the actions in my ministry that were taken from the book by Lencioni (2016) on the ideal team player. In the book, I was able to identify that the three virtues of an ideal team player are humility, hungry, and smart. What mostly caught my attention was the discussion on humility. Lencioni mentioned that team players lack excessive ego and concerns about status. Instead, they are quick to point out the contribution of others and share credit while they emphasize team over the self. The discussion focused on acknowledging others and I had a paradigm shift in the way I would deal with both my teammates and interaction with others.
I found that the concept of acknowledging others and emphasizing on team effort were easier to implement than I had initially imagined. This is because I was involved in team where everyone had a role to play and it was easy to recognize their achievements. I noticed that acknowledging other people on their effort had a direct effect on improving the performance of the entire team. A large number of my teammates would later go at great lengths to work harder as they felt motivated. The attitude of the entire team also changed because they felt that each and every of their contributions were being acknowledged. The approach of my team members towards me also changed as I became one of the most popular person in the group. At one point, one of my teammates approached me and asked me what approach I had taken to improve the team morale. I mentioned the concept in the book about humility, acknowledging others, and not focusing on oneself.
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After looking at the impact that the humility approach had, the next step would be to spread the message of humility, focusing on a team approach, and acknowledging the work of others. I would push both the manager, my teammates, and the subordinates to take part in approach. One of the ways to ensure that this could be possible is through the frequent evaluation meetings conducted by the teams. The evaluation meetings would start off by giving different people and the entire group complements on their work performance. It would involve a specific explanation of what is being recognized.
While humility and acknowledging others was good, I at times found it challenging. It was difficult to find something positive about certain individuals that had disagreed with me. Some teammates never liked the approach of acknowledging others saying it was shallow and plastic. However, I could relate to that as the dynamics of any workplace as seen by Lencioni. I would encourage myself and those that opposed me with the verse “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves,” (Philippians 2:3). Honoring them would mean taking time to acknowledge their positive contribution to the team even when I did not want to.
Reaction to thread 1 by Lucas Culver
Reading the thread played a big role in enabling me to identify practical ways that the humble-hungry-smart rule could be applied to a typical team. I found out that a team could be evaluated based on their humility and emotional intelligence levels. This was a great idea that I could use to start evaluating the humility levels of my team. This served to emphasize the importance of humility to a team. This is in line with the statement “Team members who lack excessive ego, almost never need to be pushed, have common sense about people are virtues that are invaluable to the success of a team,” (Lencioni, 2016). No member of a team may feel a level of bias from other team members in case evaluations about the team performance on the team are carried out. Additionally, this was a practical where to share to the team indirectly about the importance of humility in their overall performance.
I also found a practical application of the expectation management when trying to solve conflict. I learned that a practical way to solve conflict would be to understand that there would be different people that have opinions that have differing opinions. Instead of simply picking fights with these individuals, trying to understand them first through understanding the fact that people are different can help in solving conflicts (O'Neill and Allen, 2014). For the given thread, the team leader first understood that humility did not come naturally to everyone and that emotional intelligence could be confusing to others.
Reaction to thread 2 by Jennifer Walker
One of the lessons I learned from reading the thread by Jennifer Walker about one of the ways that hunger can be applied in the workplace. The lesson from Lencioni showed that hunger in the workplace involves commitment to the workplace and going above what is required. I imagined that this would only apply in the context of one’s designated area of work. For instance, the writer of the thread worked with patients. I expected that hunger for their job would involve working extra hours to serve patients or providing the best services. This was with respect to the description of hunger by Lencioni that hunger is “sustainable commitment to doing a job well and going above and beyond when it is truly required” (Lencioni, 2016). In I learned that hunger for job did not necessarily have to be something complex. It could involve assisting with a nonrelated work of scanning. It appeared simple but a significant impact on the motivation of the employee that had been assisted. It is not the big things, but the simple things done to improve the work environment that can make a huge difference.
One of the strategies that I can recommend deals with the statement that they would hope one day to be part of a team that possesses all the three attributes. I find that it is an individual that possesses the attributes and not the team. One should thus try to first evaluate themselves, improve the attributes by themselves and later focusing on empowering other people in the team to have the attributes. The attributes are difficult to find in a team but are cultivated progressively.
Reaction to thread 3 by Daniel Clark
I learned from the thread how about the different ways to have a successful team. One of the ways was to put the team at heart and to emphasize the team over self. The team leader chose to go through a difficult process of being slow and more deliberate in the selection of team members. The deliberate action was done with the interest of the team and the best way to have the team to succeed. This was in line with the verse “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” (Romans 12:10).
I also gained a practical approach about how to deal with dispute that could occur in the workplace. Disputes regarding the adoption of the humility, humble, and smart approach was resolved by talking with each team member that did not agree with the leader. The issues were not addressed to the entire team but were handled through a one-on-one basis. The issue was handled by making the individual focus on the big picture. The big picture was the direction and vision of the unit and the need to have the best leaders. Encouraging people to focus on the big picture can be one of the best ways to solve conflicts. Additionally, team members that did not conform to the new approach were placed in lower positions. While this appeared strict, it would reduce necessary conflict as they would have to conform to the requirements of the leaders.
References
Lencioni, P. (2016). The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate the Three Essential Virtues. Hoboken, New Jersey: Jossey-Bass.
O'Neill, T. A., & Allen, N. J. (2014). Team task conflict resolution: An examination of its linkages to team personality composition and team effectiveness outcomes. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice , 18 (2), 159.
