Center for Organizational Leadership
Empowering Effective Leaders
By Todd Miller
My wife, Marcie, and I are the parents of four sons — I like to joke that I have my own Miller six-pack — and the importance of being a good teammate has been an ongoing conversation in our home for years. Our boys have had daily doses of this mantra from Marcie and me since they were old enough to join a team, and now the younger brothers get a steady dose of it from their older brothers. We are a household of competitors, with four athletic sons and two parents who support them, and our schedules are filled with practices and games. The concept of teamwork is simply part of our lives. Of course, I believe the value of teamwork extends far beyond a football field or baseball diamond.
Most of us have experienced both healthy and toxic team environments, so we know that healthy teams are made up of people who support one another while toxic teams are often made up of people who put themselves above others. God gave me a highly competitive spirit, and like anything, this can be used for good towards others, or the enemy can use it for selfish motivations. For teamwork to thrive, we must cultivate a culture of honor. Author Danny Silk defines true honor as “the practice of two powerful people putting one another before themselves, empowering one another, working together to meet one another’s needs, and adjusting as necessary in order to move together toward the shared goals of the relationship.” True honor involves respect, admiration, integrity and intentionality. True honor means being devoted to one another and honoring each other above ourselves (Romans 12:10). So, how can you be a good teammate?
I would like to share five fundamental ways to intentionally cultivate a culture of honor within your workplace and home.
If a team is cultivating all five of these points, then the natural by-product is team unity. When we receive and release unconditional love and prioritize team unity, we respect leadership, assume the best in team members, engage with honesty and honor, seek out the gold in others, and serve and build up one another while truly rejoicing in their successes. After experiencing a team like this, you’ll never want to go back to anything else. As we all strive to be better leaders and more effective team members, we need to remember that, ultimately, we are responsible to people, not for them or for their actions. We must strive to do our part to cultivate a culture of honor within our team settings.
Within every team situation, it is essential to accept what we can and cannot control. I can only control me, and you can only control you. We can control our effort, attitudes, reactions to adversity, and ability to motivate ourselves and those around us. I tell my sons that if they show up to practice every day willing to give it 100% whether they feel like it or not then they are successful regardless of any score or statistic. The same is true in all areas of life. We play like we practice. Half-hearted practice leads to half-hearted performance. We must give each day our best effort. We must work with all our hearts as if we work for God (Colossians 3:23). Jesus expects a spirit of excellence from each of us; he expects us to be good teammates and to give others our best.
Be devoted to one another in love.
Honor one another above yourselves.
Mine for gold today.
