Lesson #5: Teamwork is an Essential Tool for Success
Lesson #5: Teamwork is an Essential Tool for Success
Case knew that he had an innovative idea and he knew that he had the drive to make it happen, but he also knew that it was not something he could do alone. “If you really got the right people, and you've got them working together as a team, whether it's in business, whether it's in science, whether it's in politics, you can make a big difference,” he says. “If you don't have the right people, no matter how smart you are, no matter how good your idea is, you're not going to get very far.”
Cultivating a sense of teamwork was one of Case’s top priorities. From recruiting to motivating his employees and instilling within them a sense of passion, Case took the time he needed to make sure his people were behind him. “You can perhaps be a lead and you can perhaps be a catalyst, but it really is about the team,” he says. “And I'd say one of the great lessons I've learned over the past couple of decades, from a management perspective, is that really when you come down to it, it really is all about people and all about leadership. That just one or two people can make a huge difference.”
For Case, leadership was not just about giving direction. It was about utilizing the unique characteristics of each of his staff members and making them feel like a valuable part of the team. “You have to get along with people, but you also have to recognize that the strength of a team is different people with different perspectives and different personalities,” he says. “You have to force yourself out of a comfort zone and really try to figure out what are the key ingredients, the key skill sets, the key perspectives that are necessary, and then figure out a way to attract the very best people to fill those particular roles.”
Too many entrepreneurs today fall into the trap of attracting people that think like them, says Case, but that is a recipe for disaster. “In some ways it's easier to communicate, but you're not going to have a diverse perspective that is critical in looking at things in a different context, and being able to focus on the future and not simply look in the rear view mirror and be looking backwards at the past,” he says. For Case, what was important was not whether someone agreed 100% with his vision. Rather, he wanted someone who was a visionary in his own right. “It's stunning to me what kind of an impact even one person can have if they have the right passion, perspective and are able to align the interest of a great team,” he says.
Just how important was teamwork to the success of AOL? Extremely, says Case. “It really was setting a direction and setting an expectation and getting the right people working together, and really focused on, ‘How do we get to the promise land?’”
Lesson 5 Teamwork is an Essential Tool for Success
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“When I was trying to think of what the key management principles were to build into the culture, I started talking about the Ps,” says Case. “The P's were things like passion, perseverance, perspective and people. I think the people aspect is really the most important one.”
Case knew that he had an innovative idea and he knew that he had the drive to make it happen, but he also knew that it was not something he could do alone. “If you really got the right people, and you've got them working together as a team, whether it's in business, whether it's in science, whether it's in politics, you can make a big difference,” he says. “If you don't have the right people, no matter how smart you are, no matter how good your idea is, you're not going to get very far.”
Cultivating a sense of teamwork was one of Case’s top priorities. From recruiting to motivating his employees and instilling within them a sense of passion, Case took the time he needed to make sure his people were behind him. “You can perhaps be a lead and you can perhaps be a catalyst, but it really is about the team,” he says. “And I'd say one of the great lessons I've learned over the past couple of decades, from a management perspective, is that really when you come down to it, it really is all about people and all about leadership. That just one or two people can make a huge difference.”
For Case, leadership was not just about giving direction. It was about utilizing the unique characteristics of each of his staff members and making them feel like a valuable part of the team. “You have to get along with people, but you also have to recognize that the strength of a team is different people with different perspectives and different personalities,” he says. “You have to force yourself out of a comfort zone and really try to figure out what are the key ingredients, the key skill sets, the key perspectives that are necessary, and then figure out a way to attract the very best people to fill those particular roles.”
Too many entrepreneurs today fall into the trap of attracting people that think like them, says Case, but that is a recipe for disaster. “In some ways it's easier to communicate, but you're not going to have a diverse perspective that is critical in looking at things in a different context, and being able to focus on the future and not simply look in the rear view mirror and be looking backwards at the past,” he says. For Case, what was important was not whether someone agreed 100% with his vision. Rather, he wanted someone who was a visionary in his own right. “It's stunning to me what kind of an impact even one person can have if they have the right passion, perspective and are able to align the interest of a great team,” he says.
Just how important was teamwork to the success of AOL? Extremely, says Case. “It really was setting a direction and setting an expectation and getting the right people working together, and really focused on, ‘How do we get to the promise land?’”
Lesson 5 Teamwork is an Essential Tool for Success
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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