I play on a lot of different teams, both at work and at home. We hear a lot these days about being a good team player, but most of what I hear talks about communication, cooperation and compromise.  All those things are great and necessary for good team play.  But they’re also all behavioral rather than cognitive, and we all know that our behavior flows out of our thoughts.  In other words, as our thinking goes, so goes our behavior.  Nowhere is this more evident than in how teammates interact with one another.

It seems to me that there is one aspect of our thinking that has a massive impact upon how we interact with others on the team.  It has been true for me personally and I’ve seen it consistently in others.  I don’t have a great term for it, but the moniker isn’t really important.  It all has to do with where we individually believe we should set the bar regarding the nature of our relationship with other team members.

The lowest setting of the bar is intolerance.  That’s where we might view others as wrong simply because they do not hold our view.  We discount what they say, what they need, and even their potential contribution.  Needless to say, this is not consistent with teamwork (or friendship, marriage or any other type of important relationship).

Up from there is tolerance.  That’s where we can accept that others have views, perspectives and contributions that are very different than our own.  We still aren’t crazy about that fact, but we’ve learned to live with it and at least pretend that we like it.  Our primary view is still toward us and our needs.  Teamwork can exist, but it’s hard to maintain any kind of cohesion and unity.

The next setting of the bar is respect.  This begins to mature our relationship with our teammates by helping us look outwards, towards others on the team.  We value their personalities, gifting, contributions and needs.  This makes every aspect of teamwork more fun, effective and rewarding.

The highest setting is advocacy.  This is where we actively look out for the best interests of our teammates.  “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:  Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness (Phil 2:4-7).”  Relationships and teamwork can get crazy good under that kind of selflessness.  How many ways could God bless the teams we’re on, both at home and at work, if we lived with this kind of intentionality?

I’m going to spend some time praying about where I’ve got that bar set, on my home and work teams, and I invite you to do the same.

Hiring or promoting people is one of the most important and impactful things I’ll ever do as a leader.  It can lead to great teamwork, morale and productivity…or it can lead to the destruction of all that. As with most things in life, the opportunity for great benefit usually comes with great risk.  In every organization I’ve ever been a part of, there has always been significant energy put into mitigating the risk and maximizing the benefits when it comes to hiring or promoting people.  I’ve never seen a risk-free process and I don’t believe one exists.  But there are five questions we can ask about every candidate – questions that can help us to make great decisions:

1. What are his/her personal and professional background, experience and qualifications? I know this seems like a no-brainer, but so often we can overlook the obvious.  I have found the popular adage, ‘the best indicator of future behavior is past performance’ to be generally true.  I specifically want to look at their performance in the areas of teamwork, attitude, effort, perseverance, and of course, effectiveness.  I’m not turned off by some failures (I’m turned off by the lack of any, though), but I want to hear how a person has grown as a result.  Bottom line, I’m looking for people who have a winning track record.
2. Going through the core competencies for this position, how well does he/she align? Every position has a set of core competencies that are required for success.  This is true whether or not we’ve been disciplined enough to write them down.  As the leader who needs to fill the position, we need crystal clarity on the necessary core competencies.  And, it’s important to have a decent idea of a candidate’s relative strength in each competency.
3. If I were to project out 6-12 months from now and imagine that this person wasn’t working out, what are the most likely reasons why he/she would be struggling? My experience has been that we tend to focus on the positives of what a person will bring to a role.  We often know the downsides of a particular candidate (we all have them, don’t we?), but we don’t want to think about them when we’re feeling on a positive roll.  Answering this question is a great way to give voice to those concerns using an emotionally safe ‘what if’ approach.
4. What do I believe about the future promotability of this person? If we’re hiring good people, it’s a fair bet that they aren’t going to want to stay in a particular position forever (and if they’re that good, I’m not going to want to limit them by keeping them there indefinitely either).  I want to have a pretty high level of confidence that this individual’s ceiling is well above the position for which they are being considered.
5. Do I believe this candidate could be a game changer in this position? In these challenging times of having to accomplish more with less, I want to surround myself with game changers – people who can take quantum leaps forward.  If I think this candidate is such a person, I ought to be able to identify at least a few specific ways in which I think they might change the game.

These have helped me to make better decisions.  Not perfect, just better.

I’d love to hear what you do to ensure that you’re making great hiring and promotion decisions.

I’m faced with a stark reality every day.  I have not earned the right to lead others.  Now don’t get me wrong, it isn’t that I don’t know how to do it.  I’ve had great experiences following extremely gifted leaders and I’ve learned what kind of leader I want to be.  I’ve also had excruciatingly painful experiences submitting to the authority of individuals who believed they were better than they actually were and I learned the types of leadership mistakes I wanted to avoid.  So even though I’m still learning a ton every day, it isn’t an issue of know how.

It also isn’t an issue of accomplishment.  Honestly, I’ve enjoyed some pretty decent wins.  I have to admit, I really like to win and I’m far more competitive than I’d like to admit (it isn’t good for my marriage for my wife and I to play on opposite sides during family game night).  But I suffer my share of failures, too, and each one pushes me to grow stronger and more competent as a leader.

I have not earned the right because I believe that leadership is not a right.  A right is something to which we are entitled.  I have lots of rights.   I am entitled to income tax deductions because I’m married, have kids, a mortgage, and a ridiculously high property tax bill.  I’m entitled a great cup of coffee when I lay down $4 for a skinny caramel latte decaf at Starbucks.  But I am not entitled to have a leadership role.

I believe with all my heart that leadership is a privilege.  It blows me away, when I really stop to think about it.  God gives me the rare and holy opportunity to select, envision, equip, encourage, challenge, serve, love and lead an amazing team of people.  I am under no illusion that this is something I’ve earned.  Like God’s grace, it is something that is freely given.  It is a gift.

When I embrace my leadership role as the privilege it is, I lead differently.  I seize every day as an opportunity to thank God for the holy calling.  I look for ways to maximize every interaction.  I try to make every minute count for the King who gave it to me.  I see the potential in individuals and see it as my calling to help them achieve it.  And I approach each day with a genuine spirit of humility, embracing the reality that I only lead others because the He ordained it.

I long to be that kind of leader.  How about you?

I’ve been thinking about starting a blog for a while. But there’s always been some reason why I shouldn’t – like my doubt that I have anything of value to add to the conversation. There are so many amazing folks already sharing their creative thoughts and unique perspectives about leadership and spiritual growth. When I look at those heavyweights, it gives me serious pause.

Then there’s the reality that I’m just an ordinary guy – someone who has never written a book and lacks credentials behind his name. Even if I had something to add of value, why would anybody listen?

And of course, there’s the possibility that I begin sharing my thoughts and ideas, only to run out of things to say within a month or so. How embarrassing would that be?

So given all those great reasons for not starting a blog, you might wonder why I’m doing it anyway. There is only one reason why – because I believe God has led me to do so. In light of that, it doesn’t really matter if I think I have anything of value to add. I will ask Him what I should write about and let Him worry about what value it does or does not have. I will revel in the reality of my ordinary life and share what an extraordinary God is doing in my life. It doesn’t matter if only a handful of people ever read this, because that isn’t the point. And I will continue to speak into the conversation about leadership and spiritual growth for as long as He directs me, and not a minute longer. If that is only a week, a month, a year, or longer, so be it. I will be obedient to His leading and let Him take care of the rest.

I pray that you might be blessed and that God will be delighted.