bcg blog

I Can Lose With You

Talent is a great thing. It’s obviously necessary in order to perform at a high level in any field. We train, work, and practice all in an effort to maximize the talent we’ve been given. As any coach will tell you, the Jimmies and Joes do matter.

In sports the effort to attract, recruit, and develop the best talent is never ending. This can be said for the corporate world as well. Our team is never talented to the point that we are no longer trying to garner more. 

While it is important and greatly impacts our chance of ‘winning’, as leaders it would benefit us greatly to consider the possibility of the other side of the coin. 

Who can help us win is important. 
But, who we are willing to lose with may be just as important.

Why Should We Care?
I don’t know about you, but I’ve had some things not go my way. I’ve lost and been lost. I’ve struggled to find answers to problems our team has had in front of them. I’ve taken risks and failed miserably. Things aren’t easy. Excellence isn’t easy and leadership surely isn’t either.

We can’t count on a lot of things in the world, but it seems like facing adversity is as much of a sure thing as there is out there. With that realization in mind, who we face that adversity with turns out to be a pretty big decision. 

We’re going to get through it. I mean, if you’re reading this you’re literally undefeated against all the adversity you’ve faced to this point in your life. Surviving should not be the goal though. What we often fail to realize is how much the people around us impact whether we are choosing to survive adversity or choosing to attack it.

I’ve found it helpful to ask yourself one critical question when it comes to the people you surround yourself with: Can you lose with them?

That single question provides significant insight. When we dig into the question, we quickly discover why. People we can lose with do things the right way. They pay attention to details. They care about the team and what the team is trying to accomplish. They work hard. They don’t make excuses. They persist. They ask questions. They laugh. They smile.

And the people we can’t lose with? Well, they don’t do that stuff. We feel as if we’ve sold a piece of our soul when we lose with these people. And, if we’re honest with ourselves, winning with them isn’t quite as fulfilling either.


REAL TALK - Action Steps
So, who are these people? What do they do that makes them people you could lose with? Here are a few thoughts on helping you to identify just who these people are for you.

• My Core Values 
  
  • Do the people around me accept and embrace my core values? They don’t have to share the exact same values but they do need to respect and embrace them. When our core values are respected we feel safe within the team. We can lose with people we feel safe with because they get us and we get them. We’re in it together.
    

• My Purpose
  
  • Do the people around me provide the opportunity for me to fulfill my purpose? Our purpose in life should be how we are defining success. So, what may be perceived as failure by society may not be. Defining our own success allows fulfillment to be a daily experience rather than something off in the future. People sharing a piece of your purpose are easy to lose with because they realize the failure doesn’t define you and is simply feedback as part of the process.
    

• My Passion
  
  • Do the people around me share the same passion? It’s really hard to lose with people that you don’t think care as much as you do. The passion doesn’t need to be exactly to the same level, but it does need to be in the ballpark. Not many things sour a leader as quickly as failing with team members that they don’t feel are as committed as they need to be. On the contrary, all in, fully committed team members make refocusing and redirection simple. Simple, not easy. But, simple.
    

People we can lose with honor the process excellence requires. Sometimes the results don’t follow the timeline we would like, but we can live with that. We are constantly impacting, and being impacted by, the people around us. We must be intentional to consider whether or not we are willing to lose with the people around us. When we can say ‘yes’ to that, we have the team we want.

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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