A team doesn’t play to its best player. It plays down to whatever lazy thing everyone agreed to ignore.
LEADERSHIP
WHAT THIS MEANS
The level of a group is set by what it tolerates, not by its best example. One ignored shortcut becomes the new baseline, because everyone can now see that it costs nothing, and the standard settles at the lowest point that goes unchallenged. Excellence at the top does not pull the floor up with it.
Identify the one thing everybody has quietly agreed not to mention and name it, without singling out a person. Fix that rather than trying to raise the ceiling. The gain from removing a tolerated problem is usually larger than the gain from any improvement.
A QUESTION TO SIT WITH
What sloppy habit does your group pretend not to see?
MORE IN LEADERSHIP & INFLUENCE
- Your teammates won’t quote your pep talk. They’ll copy the way you tie your shoes when you’re losing.
- The way you train the new hire is how they’ll train the next one. You’re writing the handbook with your attitude.
- Sometimes leadership is just being the first person to say “okay, this isn’t working.”
Free, with nothing to buy inside it.