"Me" Players

Every WINNING TEAM has three groups of players:

The STARTERS who directly add value to the organization or who directly influence its course;

The Bench players who add value, indirectly or who support the starter; and

A core group within the STARTERS who are the folk without whom the team would fall apart.

These groups define the TEAM—they are the folk who are devoted to the vision of the TEAM and the organization they support. There are other folk in the organization whose only emphasis is themselves. You can readily recognize them because their conversation is always about ME as opposed to the TEAM or the organization. You will find that the “ME” non-TEAM members not only detract from the energy that could be devoted to forward momentum but also consume needed resources that could be devoted to the TEAM, such as excessive absenteeism or tardiness which puts more work on the Team Players, or their constant talking and workplace antics that distract TEAM PLAYERS from their work, or negativism that only serves to bring every one down.

One of my goals is to turn these “ME” non-TEAM players around by not focusing on their issues and to keep in front of them the objectives of the TEAM. All of us can help these “ME” folk by encouraging them to be part of the TEAM. We can’t save everyone but we can with effort get more folk on the TEAM. I need your help!