Teams ONLY work when they are unified behind a common purpose and common plan.
There’s always lots of opinions and options on anything that needs to be done. Many of them can be successful. But NO team will win when everyone is going in different directions. That’s where the leader comes in, to pull the team together – to call the play.
President George Bush described this as being the “Chief Decider.”
For better or worse, the Leader is the One
Someone has to make the final decision. Someone has to pull the team together and unify them behind one course of action. It takes courage. Know one ever knows the future. There’s always the possibility of failure. If the Leader decides wrong, everyone will know who to blame. That’s why this is the leader’s biggest responsibility. When the time comes, they must act. They can’t delay or hesitate, they have to choose or the unity disintegrates.
No MEAL lasts forever and no DECISION lasts forever
Of course the pressure never really let’s up on the leader. If it’s a good decision, positive things will happen and lead to a whole new arena of possibilities…all requiring more decisions. If it’s a bad call, the leader must jump into action and call another play to correct things.
Leading is like driving a car – you can’t go to sleep.
Teams are like cars, they are always moving and there is always something coming up around the bend. They reach different stages in their growth – the same game plan, activity cycle, products, recognition, etc, never works forever. If you are a teacher, the same techniques won’t necessarily work all year to keep your students interested, involved and participating. When their attention starts to wander you have to change things up. If you are a parent you know have to constantlly come up with different ideas to keep your kids doing their homework, behaving and doing their chores. When the leader in any arena sees attention, excitement and growth starting to peek IT’S TIME to call a new play. If he/she isn’t PAYING ATTENTION, they won’t know when to act or have any idea how to react. The closer they watch the more reaction time they have before they have to act.
