Being able to perform in groups and teams is an art that we all need to practice. The right team with the right skill set, attitude, knowledge, abilities, and goals can achieve some amazing things.
Sports teams that have elements of synergy and unselfishness will not only win many games, but potentially championships.
You can’t run away from groups in this world. They are everywhere from fitness classes, working groups in the office, to social clubs.
Families, gangs, and community groups all have potential elements of group-think but can turn into disaster if one element is present in any member of the group: ego.
What needs to be specifically understood a little bit more is the presence of ego in non-profit, community, and volunteer-based organizations and what this does to impact group purpose.
Here are just a few observations, some more obvious than others, that I have captured about volunteer groups from my experience:
- All volunteer groups have a purpose. I don’t know of any group of individuals, whether two or three who do not. This purpose can be as simple as putting on a local show for cultural awareness or grabbing coffee to catch up on personal lives.
- It takes work to achieve purpose. Again, I don’t know of any mission being met by an organization by letting things be as is. What is generally observed in large volunteer-based groups is that a handful of the folks are really doing the work and most others “show up” to participate.
- Most groups have elected leaders and they are put in place by members to achieve the purpose of their group. These elected members will change but their role in achieving the purpose of the organization does not.
- The mission of voluntary organizations is not linked to individual objectives. We name organizations based on what it is intended to achieve (e.g., feeding the hungry, increasing cultural awareness, fighting disease, etc.). The role individual’s play in organizations is not about goals they are trying to achieve, but the goals of the organization. Sounds simple, huh?
In my opinion, the biggest clash is when individual objectives come in the way of group purpose. You see this from leaders in the organization in the “it must be done my way” phenomenon. It is no surprise to me that it is for this very reason that groups fall apart but it is also for this very reason that new groups arise.
One of the most common cycles of group creation and destruction is a “group” of people leaving a group that serves a purpose due to disagreement with the one in charge, to create another group that serves the very same purpose only to fall apart again. I see this so many times around me.
Can we just get over the reason for joining a volunteer group in the first place? Let’s get one truth out there: most groups will change. This can happen with new elected members, increase or decrease in members, people’s change in interest, or the break up of the group, to name a few.
So, what is the way to eliminate ego and maintain volunteer group purpose? The only way is to forget about your own individual goals and think about the mission and purpose of the organization. You have to drop yourself below those in charge and look at the organization for what it is. You have to stop looking at the people in the organization as a reflection of the organization. This is the toughest challenge of all.
Look at a simple question from the common buying model. If you don’t believe in a company and what services and products it produces, why buy from it?
One reason why people leave companies is because of the idiotic leadership and decision-making patters that supervisors take that suppress the role team members’ play in the company to meet the mission.
People will leave organizations for the very same reasons – but this road does lead to another truth – that the only way to be happy is to have an organization of one that volunteers it’s time towards higher purpose.
This is one reason why I love being an independent consultant. I am not just a person in a company. I am the company. I know what the vision of my company is and by default this vision is intrinsic to me. There is no ego in this matter.
I have no need to report to any one and no one reports to me. I have no board of advisors to report to. I don’t have to do performance reports or performance plans that don’t serve any purpose for me. There are no levels of hierarchy. It’s just me and achieving the goals of my client.
What is my goal: to market myself to sell my skill set to meet my customer’s need. The three elements intrinsic and within control of my domain is to sell, market, and align myself to my client’s needs.
Volunteer organizations need to take the same approach. People need to keep organizational purpose in mind. Forget individual ego. Think greater purpose. You need to sell, align, and market yourself to meet the vision of the organization.
Stop the stupid, idiotic positioning of what you think is best. Look at what needs to be achieved and make every decision based on organizational purpose.
If all fails, remember you can still achieve great things on an individual basis without being attached to a group. This take a lot more work, but trust me you may be better off this way in the long run than dealing with the politics and headaches of larger groups.