Put the team first. Even when competing with each other, you need to instill as part of your culture that if your neighbor wins, we all win. We play as a team and we win as a team. If we win as a team, everyone’s successes really allow the company to foster a winning attitude and will foster more success.
I’ve worked in environments before where people locked their doors and hid their Rolodexes for fear that their neighbor would come in and steal their opportunities. Very early on, we decided that was something we would not tolerate in our organization. Besides the accounting door, we keep every office opened; nothing is ever locked. We truly believe that fosters a team spirit that is a means to success. We share information. We share situations, knowledge and experiences. Everyone in the company is willing to help their neighbor, even though everyone is going after the same audience. But there is enough to go around where, if you do it for the right reasons, it works really well. It’s not something that you necessarily preach; it’s something that you just have to do.
Open-mindedness on your part is the beginning of forming a team-first mentality. It’s a willingness to take criticism; it’s the understanding that we’re all on the same team and working toward the same means and ends. It’s the sharing of information and engaging of people. As leaders, we don’t have all the answers, and we don’t sit down and tell our people how it needs to be. We just express what our experiences have been.
