Thanks and Giving

With November arriving, many of us turn our thoughts to the cherished fall holiday, Thanksgiving.  Just the word itself can conjure up fond memories of a kitchen filled with mouth-watering aromas of turkey, stuffing, gravy, apple pie and a plethora of other wonderful food.  We typically enjoy our meal with family and/or friends gathered around, laughing and joking and watching football games or movies after we’ve finished eating. 

While you might be able to relate to everything I’ve already said here, it should come as no surprise that there are many who have never had, or can’t imagine a scene such as that during this Thanksgiving.  As I was driving around Austin this past week doing various errands, I was very pensive about this because of those I drove by and see every day on various street corners with signs asking for money, food or work.  My train of thought continued as I watched the news every night thinking about those that have been affected by recent heavy rains causing them to lose everything to flood waters, and how their Thanksgiving would be completely altered this year.

All too often we tend to remember the homeless, and the less fortunate around this time of year.  Our consideration lasts through approximately Christmas while we are intoxicated by a philanthropic mood that somehow permeates the air for two months.  We feel great about ourselves and how helpful we have been because we fill a few plates for the homeless Thanksgiving Day, and we gave a $10 bill to the Salvation Army bell ringer as we walked out of the store on Black Friday.  Then we hit January and turn our attention to whatever resolutions we’ve made to get in shape, or eat healthy, etc.  I’ve been guilty about this as well so I’m not chastising anyone by any means.  Instead I’d like to encourage a new perspective because the homeless and less fortunate are still a part of our society and their need does not go away just because the Thanksgiving and Christmas season is over.  More importantly we need to remember that they are our brothers and sisters in life.

So I’m suggesting a new spin on Thanksgiving to make it “Thanks and Giving”.  I would love to see Thanksgiving morph into something where we are not only reminded to give thanks for what we have in our lives, but we also make a commitment to give our time (not just money) year round to those who are in need.  The smallest things like going through your closet each season and giving to the Salvation Army what you don’t use, or choosing a day to meet with some friends and volunteer your time at the local food bank are some inexpensive and easy ways to start giving back.

We have a responsibility to the communities we live in, and it’s up to the person in the mirror to make a difference.  As this season is upon us, I encourage you to join me by figuring out ways to make a difference and help the less fortunate more consistently throughout the year and not just when Thanksgiving and Christmas comes around. 

Coaching at Work

If I had a dollar for every time I heard “There is no I in team.” from a coach, I’d be almost as rich as someone who went pro.  I have very fond and vivid memories of the sports that I played throughout my youth.  I remember the coaches I had and the teammates I played with.  My love for soccer started in second grade when I played on my first organized team, and basketball started when I was in sixth grade.  I played both sports through high school and I genuinely loved being on the field or the court.  My experiences there and my love for all sports helped mold how I viewed leadership during those years and influences how I currently view it now.

The first time I started supervising people was late in undergrad when I ran an orientation team. I had been on the team, but I had never been in charge of the team.  Admittedly I was intimidated.  How do I manage a group of people when I’ve never done this before?  As I struggled to figure it out in the weeks before the first meeting, that’s when it hit me.  Just do what your coaches did to get people to work together.  It was then that I began to fuse my love of sports and leadership together. 

Before I knew it, I found myself coaching not on a court but coaching in the workplace.  The ghosts of coaches past and all the words of wisdom that they utilized to inspire us to play were now being rebranded by me as I supervised my team of employees.  (Minus a few locker room expletives which of course weren’t appropriate for a work environment.)  Throughout my time supervising, my leadership style has been refined.   I have been faced with challenging and easy teams to work with, but getting them to perform, and achieve greatness became my new ‘winning the game’. 

I have to admit, I’m always thinking of leadership and how it plays out, so I was touched by a shirt that I saw while walking in the mall one day.  It said “There is no ‘I’ in team, but there is a ‘me’.”  Instantaneously I had a dramatic revelation of how this would be my new mantra as a supervisor.  It would also become what I would instill in training those I supervised on how to supervise their own staff teams.

It doesn’t take rocket science to figure out that you can’t be a leader without followers.  As a supervisor you have to be a good leader for your staff to buy into your vision and mission.  But you have to start with yourself.  You have to buy into your vision and mission and be a role model for them before you can get anyone else to buy in and follow what you expect of them.  Therefore like the t-shirt says, it starts with me. 

When the staff doesn’t perform, the blame typically falls on the leader and the whole team has a bad name.  Much like we see coaches in sports who have a losing team, more often than not, everyone holds that coach responsible for the team losing.  He/she gets dragged through the mud with the team’s name because they are a part of the team too.  The drive to be better should not only be an extrinsic force coming from the fans.  The drive to be better needs to be an intrinsic force as well coming from within.  That coach needs to look within and take a step to make the team better.
The mind blowing part is that this doesn’t only go for the supervisor/coach, but this goes for the staff/team members as well.  I remember sharing with a staff I supervised that “We as a team can only be as good as the weakest player”.  It was imperative for my staff to know that we are all in this together.  Think about any time you’ve worked on a team.  We have all been on a staff before where someone likes to take all the credit for when great things happen.   As soon as something bad happens they shirk the blame stating what they’ve done right, and like a weather vane in the wind, their finger starts pointing in all sorts of directions trying to distribute responsibility for the failure.  People who do this believe that the success is mine, but the failure is yours.  But as I stated before the team is only as good as the weakest player. 

So when you dissect the phrase on the t-shirt, it is saying that each employee and their supervisor need to look within and instead of saying “But I did…” they all need to take a look in the mirror saying “the success of this team starts with me.”  If everyone on the team approaches their work ethic in that way, people will begin taking responsibility for helping each other and the entire team where they see it necessary.  Instead of just complaining and letting things slide. , there will be more unity, ownership and empowerment in the workplace.  With this approach it becomes less of a bragging situation of look at what I did right, to one where people feel a sense of responsibility saying it is up to me to figure out how I can help my team be better.