“We made the strategic decision to sandbag the first quarter,” the passenger across the aisle said during the flight. “It’s all about looking good at year end.”
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I listened intently, then considered: Somewhere, on another airplane, there had to be an executive sitting in business class telling a fellow passenger: “We made the strategic decision to set absurdly high objectives for the year, to ensure that even as managers sandbag, we hit our targets.”
Unteamwork in action.
What’s ironic: The sandbagger doesn’t want to be a jerk. He’s simply found himself in a system of dysfunctional teamwork. There’s a temptation to blame the sandbagger. But organizations win faster when they shift from trying to change people (or fix them, as if they’re broken) and put more emphasis on developing teams that function with high levels of congruence.
As my co-author, Angie Paccione, and I wrote our new book, ONE Team (which is officially released this week) we were inspired by this fact: Every person we’ve ever met wants to be a part of something exceptional, a movement more significant than self. Yet, so few people are skilled in creating the conditions for a one-team approach.
ONE Team changes that.
What your team talking about? Change the discussion, and you elevate everything that’s important.
