bcg blog

Abundance Over Scarcity

One of the many challenges in any team endeavor is convincing your group there is enough to go around - enough time, enough important roles, enough recognition. From the outside, it appears there is a limited supply; and in some situations, on some teams, there certainly is.

“I'm going to get mine” is a phrase so common in the coaching world that it prompts a conversation in virtually every locker room in the country, for every sport in the country, at every age group in the country. It doesn’t always take the shape of that exact sentence, but the message shared by the team member is very clear:
    There’s not enough to go around so I need to get mine before you get yours.

Of course, this mindset is only perpetuated by parents and adults involved in youth sports. If you want to get on the top team you need to score more goals, have more hits, or average more points. Only one person on the team can be the leading scorer. If you want to play at the top colleges you have to be a five star recruit. Only a certain number of players are five stars. 

This mindset goes far beyond sports. We have the same thing within the majority of businesses throughout the country as well. There is usually only a single CEO, COO, or president. If you want to move up the ladder, you had better increase your sales, sign the next big client, or create a revolutionary product.

The mindset of scarcity is alive, and well, in all walks of society.
It’s a way, but it certainly doesn’t have to be THE way.

Why Should We Care?
Scarcity says you’ve got to get yours and there isn’t enough to go around.
Scarcity says it’s either you or me and either I win or you win, but we never both win.
Scarcity says your salary shines a light on your value and your title shows the world your worth.

On the best teams, this simply isn’t true. 
As a matter of fact, the scarcity mindset is forced to yield to the overflow of the abundant mindset.

Abundance says we can all get ours and there is more than enough to go around.
Abundance says it’s me and you and we both can win the same race.
Abundance says your salary is just your salary and your title is little more than the name of a position.

On teams operating out of an abundant mindset, success is defined differently, yet high achievement is the norm. Honoring the process is the mission, however. It’s the relentless pursuit of a full contribution to the process that provides the value to each team member. Success is available to all.

All teams claim to value the roles of all team members but the truth can be found in whether they operate from a culture of scarcity or abundance. Cultures of scarcity highlight the top performers, or better said, the most publicly recognized performers. Cultures of abundance recognize that every single team member is equally responsible for and success the team experiences. 

REAL TALK - Action Steps
While we are conditioned to think from a place of scarcity, there are plenty of examples around us in which a mindset of abundance is thriving. Teams with this abundance mindset thrive because we all want to be valued and feel like we are vital contributors to the team. Here are a few ideas on leaning into and growing the abundant mindset on your team.

• Clarify Roles 
  
  • We can’t perform our role effectively unless we have crystal clarity around exactly what it is and how to execute it. We need to know what success within our role looks like to our team. It’s equally important to understand the impact of our role on the rest of the group. 
    

• Support Roles
  
  • The way we show our team members that their roles are important is to support them in fulfilling their roles. If we care enough to coach them on their roles then it becomes clear that their role is important. As all coaches will attest, athletes should be far more concerned when they are not being coached than when they are in the doghouse. 
    

• Recognize Roles
  
  • We all have roles on our team that are more ‘public’ than others - recognize those within your team for their contribution to the bigger team. For the roles that do not receive recognition publicly, be certain to praise and honor them consistently within your team. All roles are critical to our team’s success and that should be clear to all team members, even if it’s not clear to the public.
    

Being a role player on a team has gotten such a bad wrap over the years. It’s a clear indication that the scarcity mindset is alive and well. However, we are all role players - even the superstars. Our roles are what allow us to contribute the most significantly and effectively to the team. As we clarify, support, and recognize these roles we begin to slowly move from scarcity to abundance.

For more information on building excellence in your teams, visit us at www.bluecollargrit.com. 
We would love to know how we could help!

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