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Consider this quote from Abe Lincoln
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Being a sports fan can be difficult sometimes. Maybe the quarterback of your favorite college team leaves the team and you figure all is lost because the coaches decide to start the third-string guy who has never really taken any snaps with the offense. Or maybe your favorite pro goes down with a broken collarbone because of a cheap shot and you see the fan base explode knowing in their guts that the entire season may very well be lost. Many times in these situations we let our own frustration overcloud our faith in the system and in the concept of a team.
It just so happens that maybe that third string guy was the one player the team really needed and could rally behind which made every other player on the team better! The success they found playing as a group and each person taking care of their own assignments shows the true character of the team and its players. Together they were stronger, better and performed as we would have hoped when they had all those highly touted first stringer guys playing.
I wonder how this works in our own lives as well. How about at work? We all know coworkers who don’t pull their weight or who seem to get special treatment even though their job performance is less than stellar. It frustrates us, makes us impatient and even starts to hamper our own work ethic. We have all seen the dumbing down if you will at work where the team works just hard enough to keep up with the one person who does the least. In fact I would gather an educated guess that the slackers are the same employees that get talked about around the water cooler and whom you complain to your significant other about when you get home.
Meanwhile on the sidelines are employees who are keeping their heads down, working hard, paying attention and keeping their eyes and ears open in order to learn. It is that group of unrecognized individuals who wait for the opportunity to come their way and show just what they can do, just like the redshirt freshman who has worked hard and continued to pay their dues.
If you manage people, stop and take a look at your employees this week. Do you see the ones who are putting in the work waiting for the opportunity? Are you engaging and encouraging them? They will be the members of your team that will surprise you and far exceed your expectations. And if you are an employee, what are you doing during the day? Are you putting in a solid shift or are you sitting on the sideline just out of the way of the play on the field? The choice to be in the game is yours, will you spend your time honing your skills and be ready when it’s time for you to enter the game and make a play that everyone will talk about? Just something to think about. See you next week…remember, we’re all in this together.