"One is too small a number to achieve Greatness" John Maxwell
The entire concept of a "self-made man" is one of the greatest fallacies of life. Indeed, one is too small a number to achieve success, and if we think about it, all the greatly successful people we know worked with a team to achieve their success. Even as he sat alone in solitary confinement for a good part of his prison life, Mandela's success could not have been achieved without the "team" of ANC members inside and outside the prison, who he frequently communicated with using secret letters and messages. Even when the means of conveying these secret messages was truncated, the virtual team work continued, as the team understood each other so well.
In the workplace, we find many managers who supposedly lead a team, but in reality are lone rangers. It is no surprise therefore that they struggle to achieve success, and gain the recognition for all their toil and hard work. The problem isn't that they are not smart or hard working; it is rather that they are attempting to achieve success without involving their team. Like Mandela, great team leaders not only achieve success, but actually get most of the recognition and attention, which as hard as they try to share with the rest of the team; the world continues to give them the accolades.
If you are struggling with success in your team at work, perhaps you should start asking; how much of a team player or team leader you really are? There are four clear reasons why many of us fail to leverage the full potential of our teams and by extension limit our success potential. Some of us are caught up in our ego. I once heard a CEO say to his management team that I am always right, I have all the ideas, all the solutions, and with or without you, I will be fine". It's no surprise that his team is not very creative, does not challenge his thinking, and that the company's potential is limited. There are other leaders who are just naïve about the limitations of their capabilities, and never tap into the potential and prospects of their teams. In their naivety, they find out way too late, that indeed the world does not revolve around them.
The worst case of this problem is with leaders who are insecure. Their greatest fear is that one of their team members will surpass their abilities. Leaders who are insecure are really lazy and incompetent, and are not willing to take up new challenges, or break new barriers. Even if your staffs tries to catch up with you because of what you have invested in them, you will always be on the lead yourself, because as you let go of smaller things, you will rise to greater ones.
Sometimes our natural temperament and disposition, do not allow us to get the best of our working with others in a team. A great example of someone who must have over-come this, is Mr Bill Gates himself, who is reputed to have Asperger syndrome, which is a condition that naturally limits social skills in people. Despite Asperger, Mr Gates has gone on to build perhaps the most potent team in the world by gathering people of diverse skills, and interests, buying out young innovators and integrating them into the Microsoft team.
Personally, I have had situations in my former place of work, where my temperament had not allowed me to connect with my team. Yes, I had it all within me, but found it quite difficult to relate ideas with my team because I always felt they were insignificant to the work in question, only to find out when it was too late that, just that 'little' could have made a great impact.
Dear Manager, struggling to achieve success all by yourself, even those with naturally mitigating factors like Bill Gates have conquered their temperament, and built great teams. I think it's time to link up and subdue your ego, rise above your naivety, and set aside your insecurity, to build your team, achieve the success that seems to elude you, and get the recognition that you desire.
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