Team Code of Honor. Blair Singer
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the stakes are high, that people are transformed. I’ve NEVER seen a great team that didn’t come together without some type of pressure. It could be from competition, from outside influences, or it could be selfinduced. We knew in those cross-country meets that every person, every second, every step counted toward a win for our team, and it bound us together. We knew that the success of the team took precedence over our individual goals. No one wanted to let the others down. It drove you as hard as the desire to win. We had a code that said we stuck together no matter what. And in those really important moments, we came together and did what we needed to do to be successful.
But when pressure increases, sometimes so do emotions. When that happens, intelligence has a tendency to drop. People revert to their base instincts in times of stress, and that’s when their true colors come out. Sometimes that’s not such a pretty sight. Have you ever said something to someone when you were upset that you wished you had not said a few minutes later? I thought so. That’s what I mean about high emotion and low intelligence.
I’ve seen teams that work well together day to day, but when things get tough, they revert to “every man for himself.” A crisis came along and everyone ran for cover, because there was no set of rules to help them see their way through it. Judgments based upon heightened emotions became their guide, which may not turn out to be the best choice for all concerned.
For example, more than half of all marriages end in divorce. In times of stress, the people involved are unable to negotiate their differences. No common code of honor or set of rules holds them together. It is the same issue in the case of a business partnership dispute that has no rules or guidelines. Both situations can get nasty.
It isn’t that people don’t want to work out their differences. The problem is that without rules and expectations mutually agreed upon up front, they act on instinct, particularly when emotions are running high. Each does what he or she thinks is best based upon his or her feelings at the time. Decisions made in that kind of setting may not be the best ones.
Now I know you’ve never been under any kind of stress, right? Of course you have. You know that when you’re upset, when you’re under a deadline, when you’re angry at a family member or a coworker, it is impossible to try to negotiate terms. Why? Because you aren’t in your right mind! THAT’S why you need a Code of Honor.
You must create, in a sane moment, a set of rules for your team that tell everyone how to operate when the heat is really on. That way, in those moments of high stress, the rules legislate the behavior, rather than the emotions. The Code is NOT just a set of guidelines to be used only when it’s convenient. These are rules that must be “called” when breached.
The needs, tasks and problems of a team determine how rigid its code is. The Marine Corps has a code that holds its teams together under fire. When bullets are flying, life and death may have to take second place to logic and team play. Repetition of their code and its rules conditions the team to come together as a cohesive, trusting unit rather than just running for individual survival.
Having a Code of Honor doesn’t mean that everyone on the team is happy 100 percent of the time. Sometimes things get messy. A code can cause upset, create confrontation and even put people on the spot. But ultimately, it protects every member of the team from abuse, neglect and breaches of ethics. A Code of Honor brings out the best in every person who subscribes to it.
You can NEVER assume that people know the code on their own. It isn’t something that’s necessarily intuitive. You learn it from others— parents, coaches, leaders or friends. Someone has to “show” it to you. And everyone involved must agree to it. This is true for any relationship, be it with your business, your family or yourself—any relationship with an interest in its own happiness and success.
Currently about 50 percent of the gross domestic product of the United States comes from small businesses, and of that, about half of those businesses are sole proprietorships or home-based businesses. I tell you this to emphasize a point: The average person has much more power than you think. The way you conduct your business affects the lives of many others.
Your reputation, your income and your longevity depend upon your consistency of behavior internally and externally. The future of the country is in the hands of those who drive the economy, the markets, our businesses and our families. That’s you! Your significance may seem minuscule, but never doubt your influence on others. Your code is a reflection of you and will attract those who aspire to the same standards. How you conduct your business may have a bigger impact than the service you provide.
Decide here and now that you will create a Code of Honor for yourself and for the teams you’re a part of. What do you stand for? What code do you publicize to the world? How tight is your team? How happy do you want to be?
My purpose here is to give you steps, motivation and insights to building a great team that will give you and those you touch the wealth, satisfaction and joy that you all deserve. So let’s talk about who’s on your team.
Chapter Two
Who You Surround Yourself With Will Determine Your Wealth and Success — Who's on the Team?
In order to build a cohesive unit, it helps to start with great players. This is true whether you are talking about a business, a nonprofit agency, a club, a down-line, a community, government or even a family. Great players are determined by their talent, desire and willingness to play by the code.
It’s true that in some cases you don’t have much choice who is in your group. The code, however, allows those who have not yet joined to decide if this is the type of team they want to be on. And for those who are already on the team, it allows them to decide if they want to stay or not.
I know that this seems a bit brutal, but you have to make a decision about whether you are playing to be comfortable or to be liked or if you really want to win. Look, I may want to play football for the Philadelphia Eagles, but that doesn’t mean I get to! Do I have what it takes to play on that team? NO!
A great team is not just a group of people with a common objective. It is a group committed to working together toward a common goal in which each person’s unique abilities will be tested and stretched to the fullest. They are willing to subordinate themselves to the good of the team and to follow rules that may subject them to scrutiny, correction and review. Teams are not always fun. They can be messy, upsetting and downright pains in the you-know-what. But the results that a great team can accomplish are truly exhilarating. The power, trust and confidence of a hot team are unstoppable.
True teams have a very clear set of priorities:
• Mission first
• Needs of the team second
• Needs of the individual third
In many organizations that I have worked with over the last fifteen years, the priorities were totally reversed. I find that many want to know “What’s in it for me?” first. If they’re sure that they are getting that, they might help someone else on their team, as long as it doesn’t infringe on their time, money or effort. And then they’ll support the mission.
Unfortunately, the reason so many teams wallow in mediocrity is that, regardless of what people say (because anyone can talk a good story!), the mission seems to come last. Personal interests take precedence and the leader, business owner or entrepreneur is faced with fighting the battle alone and hoping to get some support along the way. In reality, most people don’t believe that if they take care of the mission first, the rest gets taken care of.
That’s no team.
On the Rich Dad team, elevating the financial well-being of humanity comes first or you can’t be on the team. It’s