You’re the Team’s Leader… But Are You the Team’s Glue?

Whoa-oh, whoa-oh

Stuck like glue

You and me baby

We're stuck like glue - Sugarland 

Here’s a blast from my past…

There was a time in Dothan, AL, where I built a really strong team, full of competent, fabulous women who got along famously and took a business that had not made a profit for 5 years to the number 3 store in the nation. 

We were cooking with grease!

Everyone was making money, the community was really behind us, and life was FUN! (my favorite word you know)

But, then the company introduced sales quotas. And the rule was, if you didn’t hit your quota, you got written-up. If you didn’t hit your quota three times, you were fired.

This was a huge shock to our system. 

We had never tracked sales numbers before by  individual performance. We worked together. We valued the collective effort. 

And while most of my team exceeded the new quotas every single month, one of them did not. And this was a huge problem for me. 

Because she was the glue. (You know, the people who do all the invisible work you never see get done but you know it has to be getting done otherwise the systems don’t work)

Glue keeps everything sticking together. It binds us.  

I knew  a big reason the other team members were so successful was because of her work. But we couldn’t assign a $ value to her invisible work. So on paper, she began to look like the weak link. Worse, she began to feel like the weak link. I watched one of the most important parts of my team lose confidence and morale. Eventually, she left. 

And this experience cemented my leadership style. I decided I would never, ever, ever manage a group of individuals again. I would only lead teams. 

As leaders, it’s our job to bring out the best in people, to deliver results through people’s talents and skills, to arrange systems that highlight strengths and minimize weaknesses. 

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