Today I want to talk about what great work teams can be like….by talking about what yesterday was like.

First off … I Hope you all had a terrific Labor Day… and that you gathered with family, friends…or just went where you wanted to go (which may have been NOWHERE.  (Which is where the Weisler’s decided to go!)  My wife Rebecca did extend an offer at church for anyone who didn’t have plans to come over and swim at our house.  We thought a couple of families might take us up on the offer….boy were we wrong.  At one point I counted 40 people just in the POOL!! 

The amazing thing was how without a committee, a plan, direction of formal leadership…people just stepped up, stepped in, and did everything that needed to be done to host 80 plus people.  I would go to empty the garbage…it was done.  To check on the barbeque…DONE, wipe up water being tracked through the house DONE… dishes…DONE!  People even anticipated that extra food, plates, cups, meat and fixings might be needed and showed up with it.  In fact I can honestly say that it would have been far more work for Rebecca and I if it had just been our family.

Great teams are made up of great team members and most often led by great team leaders who cultivate a cultural mindset of “others needs first”… a mental question seems to be pre-eminently placed and is asked both consciously and unconsciously …the spirit of the question considers the context of what is about to occur(the event) and asks… “What is needed?”  Or “What can I contribute to make this event a success for everyone else?”

I used to work at a very small company….most of our people worked on the road.  Most of the time on Scott Fullen and I were in the home office.  It seemed that each day Scott showed up to work with 2 of something.  If he had stopped for a slurpee he bought two.  If it was candy bar, a donut, a drink, a hamburger… it was never one…it was two.  If there were 5 people in the office that day… it wasn’t 2 it was 5…and it was Scott who set the tone and spirit of our office culture.  It wasn’t because of the food…but the spirit of his intent and kindness that made the difference.  No one had to tell him to serve…. His thoughtfulness and service was such a powerful and positive contributor to our workplace culture and team spirit.   Thanks Scott for your example…the difference you made in my life then….continues on today.

Labor day just past…… Labor of Love Day can be any day…

Kirk out

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 2:25 pm and is filed under T4D. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.