Are You Leading or Misleading Your Team?

We often talk about wanting teams where everyone knows their role, where people work together, and where the group's goal is more important than any single person's. We talk about the importance of being clear about who is responsible for what, about everyone pulling together, and focusing on the group instead of just ourselves.

But when it gets tough, what do we do?

We've all seen it, haven't we? When the person in charge doesn't have a plan, everyone else starts making up their own rules. They watch the boss winging it, they learn from it, and they start doing the same. Over time, this can make things really confusing. It's amazing if anyone can keep track of what they're supposed to be doing when everything's so mixed up.

It's not just that this way of doing things is confusing, it's also setting a bad example. We say we don't want it to be like this...yet, we often find ourselves winging it just like everyone else. It's hard to understand, especially when we can see it's not working.

But here's the tough truth: we're not doing much better. We talk about how important it is for everyone to know their role, to work as a team, to keep their eye on the goal - but do our actions match up with these ideas? Do we ever just make up a plan on the spot that ends up confusing everyone? Do we ever give tasks to people without thinking about who's best for the job? How do we react when the team has questions? What kind of problems is our way of leading causing?

We keep telling our team that these things matter. But do our decisions, our actions, and our way of doing things show that we believe in these things? Or are we adding to the confusion instead of helping clear things up?

And it's not just about now. It's about the future. What are our actions today teaching our future teams? Will they learn from us that it's important to be clear about who's responsible for what and to work as a team, or will they learn to wing it just like we did?

We want our teams to be successful, but to make that happen, we've got to show them that we believe in what we say. We've got to show them by the way we act, not just the things we say.

So, take a moment and ask yourself: What kind of example are you setting? How are your actions affecting your team? Are you leading them towards clarity and accountability, or are you leading them into confusion?

In the end, it's up to you. You can choose to step up, to make the tough decisions, and to provide clear guidance for your team. Or, you can keep doing what you've been doing and hope things will somehow work out. The question is: What will you choose to do?