The Coach: Conversations

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Guy Harris

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Positive Principles Newsletter
April 2005

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"There’s only one thing more contagious than a good attitude – and that’s a bad attitude…Most bad attitudes are the result of selfishness.”

                -      John Maxwell – The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork

"A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle."

                -      Benjamin Franklin

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This month's tip – Develop a “we” focus and not a “me” focus.

This month, I am building on the idea in my article from last month: Decide to be a person among people, not the person among objects. (view last month’s article)

Consider an exercise I often run with seminar participants. I call it the Best/Worst Supervisor exercise.

I’m going to ask you to reflect on two specific supervisor-employee relationships you have experienced from the employee side. As you read the rest of this article, stop for a moment and carefully think about these relationships with your supervisors - either past or present.

Relationship Number 1:

Think about the person you worked for that you would be willing to help anytime. Someone who you would willingly come in early, stay late, or work through lunch for just because they asked. The key phrase is, “just because they asked.” The person we are considering got extra effort from you because of who they were and not from the position of authority they held over you.

You might write down the answers to the following questions as you reflect on this experience:

My personal experience, verified by discussions with thousands of business people across the country, is that most people report a positive, influence type relationship with this person.

We’ll call this person the Best Supervisor.

Relationship Number 2:

Now, think about a supervisor you hated to do anything for. The supervisor who kept checking your progress, criticizing your work, and threatening to punish you in some way if you didn’t perform to standard.

Now, reconsider these questions with regard to this person.

We’ll call this person the Worst Supervisor.

Most people say that the Best Supervisor got more voluntary effort and better long-term performance and relationship results from their team. I have yet to meet the person who says the Worst Supervisor got great performance from their team.

Now consider this question for a moment: Who do you think these two people thought/think about first? Most people say that the Best Supervisor tends to keep their focus on others. Most people also say that the Worst Supervisor tends to think only of themselves and their interests.

The question for leaders becomes – How do I want the people on my team to view me?

The answer lies in how we, the leaders, think.

Our thoughts become words or actions that influence the behavior of the people around us. When I focus on my personal desires, I act in selfish ways. When I act in selfish ways, I inspire mediocre performance in my team. When I focus on the team, I act in the team’s best interest. When I act in the team’s best interest, I inspire high-level performance in my team.

As I close this article, my mind is racing with possible questions and qualifying statements. Due to space and time constraints, I haven’t even begun to address some of the issues that come to mind:

These issues are too big to consider all at once. I’ll have to get to them in a future issue of Positive Principles.

So for now, I encourage you to remember this month's tip . . .

Develop a “we” focus and not a “me” focus. 

Have a great day,

Guy Harris
The Recovering Engineer