A Team is Like a Teeter-Totter

Karl Mecklenburg is a keynote speaker and former star NFL defensive player.

Special Essay, by Karl Mecklenburg, a keynote speaker on teamwork, courage, dedication, desire, honesty, forgiveness and goal setting.

Mecklenburg made the NFL as a 12th-round pick (low odds to succeed) and developed into a star player who earned six Pro Bowl appearances and three All-Pro selections while also playing in three Super Bowls. Post-football, he earned a professional designation of a Certified Speaking Professional from the National Speaker’s Association.

A Team is Like a Teeter-Totter

A team is like a teeter-totter. On one side you have the leaders. Their top concern is the team. They think long term. They’re always on the lookout for ways to improve the output, the product and the systems. They think “we” instead of “me.” These are not just C-suite people but must include the C-suite.  Healthy teams have leaders throughout the organization.

On the other side you have the egos. Their top concern is themselves. They think short term. They think, “Where’s my money?” and “How little can I do today and keep this job?” They are focused on the negative and are constantly looking to move.

The rest of the team is in the middle of the team teeter-totter.

They can go either way. This is usually the largest group. By adding or subtracting a leader or an ego the teeter-totter will tip, the middle group will slide that way, and you will have momentum toward success, or momentum towards failure. That’s how one person can make a difference in a large team.

As a leader, if you can convince people to venture out of that middle group and become leaders, you can change the trajectory and culture of your organization.

How can you move someone from the uncommitted middle group to become a leader? Clarity and consistency of three things will bring out leaders.

Clarity and consistency of connection is vital in identifying and developing leaders. Great leaders use the strengths of the individuals to help the team succeed, and the strengths of the team to cover for the weaknesses of the individual.

The only way you can put your teammates in positions to be successful is to know them. Take the time and make the effort to get to know your team. 

There are people in your organization who are out of place. They applied for and were hired for a job that doesn’t fit their skill set as well as a different job in your organization.

I never played linebacker in my life until my third year with the Broncos.  I was always a lineman. The defensive coaching staff came to me and asked me to switch positions — and they’re very different jobs.

The coaches saw a skill set in me that I didn’t know would allow me to excel in my new role. I went from being a backup lineman to an All-Pro linebacker that year.

Clarity and consistency of your team’s cornerstones and commitments will bring leaders out of the middle group, particularly if they’re concepts your teammates will align with.

Pat Bowlen was the owner of the Broncos for eleven of the twelve years I played for Denver. He bought the team in my second year and brought the clear and consistent cornerstones of winning championship and serving Broncos Country with him.

Our commitment was to prepare to win each game. These were concepts that were easy and natural to align with. Pat went out of his way to praise and reward those who bought in and would find work elsewhere for those who didn’t.

We had two losing seasons in the twelve years I played for the Broncos and Pat Bowlen’s ability to make leaders out of the middle group had our team teeter-totter tipped towards success the vast majority of the time. 

Look at your team as a teeter-totter. Connect with the people in the middle group so you can use their individual strengths to help the team.

Make sure you have established short-term commitments and long-term cornerstones that are easy to align with, clear and consistent and you will have teammates thinking “we,” not “me.”

Publisher’s note

Here is the link to the short article and the Corporate Competitor podcast, at Chief Executive magazine that inspired Communication Intelligence to reach out to Karl Mecklenburg to ask him to converse about it.