Why do I have to be a sinner, take two

If you want an enduring high output team you will need to learn how to be a sinner. Only by being the sinner that we all are will you be able to access the dynamic of a team working together to produce exponentially more than team lead by competence. You will know some of the teams that have used these principles to achieve success. To do this a leader must be convinced that the best path lies in the tension and messes of a group of people with their hearts committed. This result, of a combined effort of everyone investing themselves, can only happen when error, short coming and mistakes are recognized as part of the path that needs to be taken. The leader who can recognize that he commits error, has short comings, makes mistakes will be able to create an environment where the team being lead will be able to do the same thing. Only in a humble and transparent environment will a team come together to get the exponential results I am talking about.

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day. When we talk about employee's, he always says you can't find any good ones where he is from. If you press him on this issue, he will admit that he is only really able to work with employee's who are self starting and organized like he is. This is where I started with him, explaining why you need to be a sinner.

If you build a team with only one type of block, you will get a linear result from the team. I don't have proof for this theory, only practical, subjective observation. My theory is that with a team of individuals that are all very similar, standard math will work to determine the productive output of that team. It works like this, one man will do 1 unit of work. Two men will do two units of work. Now even if you get a really good man, lets say he can do two units of work, and then you get two really good men and they can do four units of work.

Now take people who come together with different skills and personalities. Lets say three guys come to a table each with a dollar, they work together, are not handicapped by fear of making a mistake, help each other when mistakes are made, and contribute their strengths to each other. They each leave the table with three dollars. So in the case of three people working together, not fearing mistakes, but pressing towards a common goal, they would each contribute 3 units of work. Thus the exponential result of 3 normal people, doing 9 units of work, where three individuals with exactly the same strengths who were extra ordinary and could each do 2 units of work would only be able to do 6 units of work. So the team of normal but different types of people, connected together in a complimentary manner would do 50% more work than a team of extra ordinary individuals. This is an important concept when building a business, because normal people are always available, extraordinary people are normally your competitors.

So the question becomes how does my friend figure out how to build a complimentary team, where until now, he has only been able to build with people who are exactly like him? I think the answer lies in the need for my friend to be able to see how he too is a sinner. For great performers like my friend, this can be a very hard task to do.

The problem lies in my observation that rule keepers, like my friend, have simply constructed a world, with rules that they can keep. Thus the problem is, in their mind, that all of the other people in the world simply need to keep the rules better. With this outlook on life, there is usually a lot of judgement towards other people who are different than the high functioning person. The problem with the judgement is that it is all based upon the rules that the rule keeper can keep and it completely is blind to the weaknesses that exist in a rule keeper. The needs to analyze, the need to always be right, the need to always be in control, the need to never make a mistake, are all weaknesses that are particularly hard to see. These weaknesses also cause the rule keeper to judge and then convict others not like himself, when this happens, all chance for a well working team are gone.

So a rule keeper needs to believe that he is a sinner, with blind spots and weaknesses, with needs that only others can meet. He also needs to know that all people are made this way, with strengths and weaknesses, and begin to look for the strengths in people that are different than he is. He might then be able to add frustratingly different people to himself in his organization and find that the organization functions with more strength as it functions together. Experiencing that an organization is at its best not when perfect work is done, but when everyone is pulling in the same direction, making mistakes, but being open about them, helping one another with solutions as opposed to being an organization that is focused on blame and finding reasons why change is not possible.

So being the sinner that we are is the first step in the process of team building. It brings one to the conclusion that all people are sinners with strengths. You begin to be less impressed by others because you know they are sinners too and you also begin to judge others less quickly. You begin to look for the strength in others and find yourself not stopping at the first weakness, because we have all been given strengths. And finally, being the sinner that you are, you begin to hate your weaknesses less. They are after all part of who you are and often why you have the strengths that you do. It begins to be a door opening to a world where you begin to be more comfortable in your skin and love yourself which then leads to loving others.