Six Keys to a Winning Team Key #6 – 100% Involvement/Inclusion

By Action Coach Dave Beam

The sixth key to a winning team is 100% involvement and inclusion. Each member must know that they are accepted by the team, and each member must also choose to participate 100%. Those who are not fully engaged pull down the team's performance. 100% participation creates powerful team synergy.

So far I have given you the information to create a wonderful action plan to bring your team to new levels of performance and results. Every key is essential for maximizing your team performance, and this last key is absolutely no exception.

I want to warn you if you are a team leader. You are about to be presented with a leadership challenge that for most is very difficult. The challenge is to REQUIRE 100% participation from your team. Some of you know that you have team members that need to radically change or leave. Jim Collins, author of "Good to Great", was asked how to decide if a person should be kept on a team or if they should be asked to leave. He said it is a simple two question test:

#1 - If the person left today for a better job somewhere else, would you be glad or sad?

#2 - If this person applied for a job with your organization today, knowing what you know about them, would you hire them?

The answers to those questions provide a clear insight into the action that needs to take place. 100% involvement means that each team member is totally committed to the team and its success. In practical terms, the team member shows up for the game, on time, consistently, ready to perform. Each and every member is willing to do what they can do to support the leader and every other member. 100% inclusion means every member of the team is committed to accepting and supporting every single member of team - no member left behind or excluded. In other words, the team is lean and mean. It is tight - every member fully engaged and included.

So, as a review, here are the 6 keys; 1. Strong Leadership 2. Common Goal 3. Rules of the Game 4. Support Risk Taking 5. Action Plan 6. 100% Involvement and Inclusion. Get these keys in place and go out there and win the game!