Menu
Patrick Lencioni in his book, The Ideal Team Player, postulates that a quality associate embodies three virtues: humility, hunger and people smarts.
The power this combination yields drastically accelerates and improves the process of building high-performing teams, thereby improving overall business performance.
Classic management theory teaches that authority and responsibility are intertwined and should be delegated accordingly.
The theory is that if you have a properly trained leader, and give him or her the authority and responsibility for a particular operational function they should be able to cause that operational function to come into control and meet performance expectations.
As we have all experienced, that sometimes happens, and often does not. Why?
Before you say: “emotional intelligence”, let’s consider some obvious facts.
Authority requires the leader to make the plan and explain any performance variances to the plan back to their boss.
The assumption of authority is that a good plan once properly implemented, will produce the desired results.
Responsibility, however recognizes that planning and performance involve circular feedback to be successful.
Well-managed responsibility finds the leader asking questions, such as:
In general associates need the following to be satisfied in the workplace (top 10 list):
To be heard
To be safe
To be paid fairly for the work they do
To have opportunities for advancement
To have a best friend at work
To have a good relationship with their supervisor (employees leave supervisorsnotcompanies)
To be respected for who they are and what they can contribute
To be a part of a collaborative and supportive team, the sum of which is greater than the parts
To be given the opportunity to win (no one comes to work to lose)
To have hope – that things can and will improve
These findings are validated by several well-known authors.
To name a few:
Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman First Break All the Rules
Patrick Lencioni The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
Jim Collins Great by Choice, Good to Great, and Built to Last
