When we give presentations, we often make a statement: That leadership and teamwork start with two things – accountability and ego.
Accountability
As a leader, are you willing to take 100% responsibility and ownership? Take responsibility for direction, goals, making the right choices, failing, giving and receiving accountability within your team, showing the trust that is needed, giving and receiving honest feedback, and supporting your team? Are you willing to give appropriate praise to a team member instead of yourself? Take responsibility in saying no, setting boundaries, asking for help, sharing your views, and ensuring that as a team, you hold each other accountable for mutually agreed goals?
The good old "cover your ass"
I wasn’t part of that decision. I don’t know anything about that. You should probably talk to xyz, etc. You know the feeling well. You disclaim responsibility, and the survival mechanism kicks in. It happens to everyone at some point, and then we rush to justify it to ourselves instead of taking ownership of the situation. We become uncertain and close off to ourselves instead of opening up. When this happens, we don’t tap into all the resources within ourselves or our team. We become ineffective, stressed, and out of balance when we disclaim responsibility and ownership that belong to us.
What usually goes wrong is that you haven’t adjusted your inner compass, reflected on your direction, internal values, motivation, and time pressure in relation to your goals and purpose.
- What is it that I should contribute here?
- What is my purpose in this organization?
- Where can I help?
- What is best for the team and our common goals?
If you can honestly answer these questions, you will also know if you can take responsibility and ownership. If you feel that a decision from upper management doesn’t resonate with you, ask yourself how the team’s goals align with the organization’s goals – that is, “the big picture.” And ask if you don’t understand, because if you can’t commit, how will your team? You must believe in the direction and the goal in order to motivate your team. Adjust your inner compass.
“We talk a lot about teamwork, but when it gets tough, it’s every man for himself!”
Accountability and behavior are crucial factors if you want to develop people who will work effectively in teams. It’s about taking ownership and strengthening relationships and trust, which in turn drives higher performance. These are fundamental elements of self-managed teams. We talk a lot about teamwork, but when the pressure is on, it’s often every man for himself. We become divided instead of coming together. It’s about leading in practice. As a leader, you are a bearer of culture; you define the culture in the organization and in the team. It’s not what you preach, but what you tolerate, that makes all the difference!
Ego
Observations we have made when working with leadership teams in seminars and outdoor programs are that leadership and ego go hand in hand.
The most difficult ego to manage is your own. For example, there are leaders who cannot tolerate feedback, as it challenges their ego and worldview, but of course, this is something one can work on. Self-awareness, what I call adjusting your inner compass, is absolutely vital. It’s about wanting to take ownership and responsibility all the way and about being humble. Humble leaders generally go far with their employees, teams, and themselves. Humility does not mean weakness – on the contrary. It means being at peace with yourself, and that your inner compass is adjusted so that you have a sense of your strengths and challenges, values, and goals.
Our experience is that good leaders have both brain and heart and are able to use both. In fact, they are passionate about working with people, both the good and the bad. Being a leader is undeniably tied to being the person you are and being human; it cannot be separated. Being aware of your own strengths and challenges is also a key factor in teamwork, and this is where you, as a leader, can really make a positive difference by leading by example. Again, it’s not what you preach, but what you tolerate, that is crucial.
When we talk about teams, it’s important to define two elements.
Taskwork and teamwork. Taskwork is, interestingly enough, the work, tasks, and projects the team needs to accomplish. Teamwork is the interpersonal aspect, that is, how you function together and how you best leverage and deploy all of your strengths. It is worthwhile to continuously invest energy in training teamwork, as this is where you can optimize both in the long and short term.
Focus on software instead of hardware
We are constantly puzzled by how, in some organizations, a group of people can be put together to solve complex, expensive, important, dangerous, and time-consuming tasks without establishing basic teamwork ground rules for collaboration, behavior, values, roles, responsibilities, and feedback. We spend tons of time and money optimizing processes, digitalization, IT, bureaucratic measures, and registration. What could be called the hardware. However, what truly makes a difference is teams that are in sync and overlap with each other 100%. What we can call the software. It requires training and time, and it takes motivation and courage to get teams to function optimally.
It’s not to sound negative. Optimizing systems, documentation, and processes is entirely justified, but the means are not the end! In the near future, AI and robotics will dominate, and there will be jobs that humans won’t be doing. What will become important is teamwork and people who develop, brainstorm, solve tasks, and generate innovative ideas. We need to strengthen the focus on the interpersonal, social intelligence, brain capacity, heart, and engaged people with shared goals. So why not optimise and adjust what people can achieve together?
Human competencies in the future
There are some interesting winds blowing around the reorganization of how organizations function, excellently described in Fredric Laloux’s book. Fremtidens organisationMorten Münster certainly touches on something interesting, not to mention Yuval Noah Harari and Peter Hawkins with his ideas on systemic leadership team coaching. All of whom are thinking about “the shift in human thinking” and highlighting which human skills and strengths will be relevant in the future. We interpret this broadly as “gifting, caring, and sharing.” It’s the human touch that is shifting the world. It is us who create and think. And we hope that this “mindshift” gains even more momentum. As a leader, you have a colossal influence here. It starts with responsibility and ego, you, me, and us, and the adjustment of the inner compass.
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