Main Idea
Do you like to build puzzles? Have you ever put together a puzzle with someone who took a piece and saved it without you knowing it so he could put in the last piece? Have you ever thought that this job would be easy if I did not have to deal with coworkers, customers, vendors or bosses? Do you have co-workers who are only concerned with who gets the credit?
Expansion of Idea
Work would be real easy if we did not have to deal with customers, employees, vendors and co-workers. The reason is that there would not be a business. We have to work with people. This can be a challenge but it is the reason we are here. We have to learn to cooperate and work together. You may think I am warped but I think it is fun to help others look good. It is fun working together to find the best answer to a complex problem. Even though the Lone Ranger was the star of the show, he would have died at least once in each show without Tonto. When we work together, we come up with answers that we would not have discovered by ourselves. This can only happen when we are open to input from others. We need to be actively searching for the right path. To do this requires that we are not focused on being right. Instead, we have to be focused on finding right.
Is the better leader one who tells his employees what to do or one who asks his employees if there is a better way? In each of our businesses, the person that has the most customer interaction knows things about the customer that the president of the company does not know. The really smart leaders will look for input from the customer service people. Ultimately, the leader has to make the decision. But the wise leader keeps his ego and emotion out of the decision and instead focuses on the wisest decision. This helps the rest of the company work together to achieve results that they could not achieve independently. This creates a culture of cooperation which is a very powerful business advantage. There is an ancient proverb that says that a cord of three strands will not break quickly. Is your business a cord of three strands?
Questions to Ask Yourself
Am I more concerned about being right or finding the right answer?
Do I look for input from others for improving myself and the systems that I work with?
Do I help create a culture of cooperation?
Have I contributed to a culture of “ME,ME,ME”? How do I fix that?