Dean's Dream

"Individual commitment to a group effort--that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work." --Vince Lombardi

I found this quote the other day and felt it was appropriate in a couple of ways. For one, we just finished watching a great super bowl game, and Mr. Lombardi was a successful Green Bay Packers coach back in their early success years. Furthermore, this quote also relates to Summit. As we get busier at work, we’re all having to get used to a different workload. Our natural inclination is to often look inward and add more and more onto our plates. As our plates get full we fall into the trap I call the “poor me” syndrome. You start to feel that you are on an island alone, you feel that others you interact with don’t understand your plight and you may even feel they are trying to add more work or pressure to you.  You will start hearing yourself say things like “that’s not my department,” and “why am I doing work their work?” If you are seeing this or feeling this I will tell you that you are falling out of being part of a team.

It is a natural reaction to feel slighted and you often will feel that others are not pulling their weight. I can see it happening day to day, which is why I wanted to start the conversation. This departmentalization or “poor me” syndrome will kill a company. So by bringing it out front and talking about it I hope we can end this before it sets in deeper.  A true team should share in the struggles of their teammates by working together and helping each other. Similarly, a team should also share in each other’s successes, as every success Summit sees isn’t because of one person – it’s because of a team effort. It takes a strong group effort to pull off what we do each day and we each have our roll. As a team, our concern should not be solely about “me”, but rather “us”.

If you see a co-worker struggling, don’t let them suffer alone. We are all busy, but we can’t succeed by silo-ing ourselves off from the rest of the team. If you feel there are larger issues at hand, make your supervisor aware so a solution can be created. By helping each other and speaking up, we can work to take a little bit off of everyone’s plates, which will lead to long-term benefits for all. If you are raising issues and feel like they are not being heard or addressed, please come see me.

By being individually committed to the Summit team and helping us to highlight and bring change to where we have issues, Summit is sure to soar to new levels. We will continue to overcome all obstacles together as a group, and that my friends is the Summit Way!