Credit Where It’s Due
Welcome to the sixty-fifth edition of “In-Touch”. As always, I would love to continue the conversation so please let me know what you think in the comment section below.
Story of the Week: “Credit Where It’s Due”
Having attended hundreds of company presentations over the years, I usually know what to expect from them. However, at a recent one, I was pleasantly surprised from the very start, when the speaker displayed a highly captivating slide.
On the left side, it depicted the organisational structure of his team — nothing unusual about that — but on the right, it captured the essence of its quality and diversity by listing numerous team statistics, from the five members’ combined years of experience (60 years) and the number and variety of their academic qualifications (ranging from Diplomas and BAs to Master’s degrees) to the remarkable list of 11 languages spoken (from English and Greek to Telugu and Urdu).
It was evident that the presenter — who was officially the Team Leader — wanted to shift the spotlight away from himself and his title to stress the abilities and qualities of the other members and to show how, by joining forces, the team represented more than the obvious sum of its highly capable parts.
Every good business leader talks about the value of teamwork but this one went beyond offering mere thanks and words of praise to his team members: with some well-chosen numbers, he showed everyone present — including the Board of Directors — just how formidable and important his team was to the company as a whole. Through the use of a single, simple projected slide, he not only gave credit where it was due but was able to demonstrate the essence of something that the leadership guru Simon Sinek once said: “Leaders don’t look for recognition from others. Leaders look for others to recognize.”
Words of Wisdom
Pelé on winning
“No individual can win a game by himself.”
Pelé
A Question to Ponder, dear friend.
“As a team leader, do you always give credit where it’s due?”
If you are not yet a team leader, then:
“How important to you is credit for your work as a team member?”
Best regards,
Michael R. Virardi
