A Captain Is Only As Good As Their Team

Wednesday, 28. January 2009 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.

“If you spend your life trying to be good at everything, you will never be good at anything.” – Tom Rath

Trying to be good at everything will make you mediocre at everything, and leaders who try to be competent in many areas, become only moderately effective overall. In order to be consistently effective in their role, a leader needs to understand, and focus on consistently using their unique God given strengths and abilities.

“A leader needs to know his strengths as a carpenter knows his tools, or as a physician knows the instruments at her disposal. What great leaders have in common is that they each truly knows his or her strengths – and can call on the right strength as the right time. This explains why there is no definitive list of characteristics that describe all leaders.” – Robert Clifton

** So if highly successful leaders are only good at a few things – how do they consistently produce high quality results in over a broad range of issues?

The Answer… Effective leaders recruit, and build, effective teams. They surround themselves with talented individuals who have complementary strengths that balance those of the leader.

Research has shown that highly effective teams have 4 overarching strengths – and while no one individual will possess all of them – these four overarching strengths need to be evident in the team as a whole. These 4 overarching strengths are:

1. EXECUTING – Individuals with this strength know how to make things happen.
2. INFLUENCING – These individuals help the team appeal to a much broader audience – selling the team’s ideas to various executives, clients and stakeholders.
3. RELATIONSHIP BUILDING – These people posses the essential glue that holds teams together. They help the team reach a level that is greater than the sum of its parts.
4. STRATEGIC THINKING – These team members are the ones who keep the team focused on future possibilities. They help stretch the team’s thinking and guide it toward making the best decision.

** Though an individual need not be “well-rounded” – a team does!