A man walks into an appointment with his Doctor for a routine check up. ‘Do you feel unwell she asks, do you have any symptoms’? ‘No, I feel fine,’ the man replies and moments later finds himself back on the street.
No Symptoms to record so the man must be healthy – the absence of ill health is taken to equate to good health. This may be a fine way to run a National Health Service but it’s not good when this philosophy intrudes into our teamwork.
The absence of poor performance does not equal good performance.
Yet this is often the assumption we make. It’s a great recipe for being stuck at average and never progressing past good enough.
When you look at your team are you simply looking out for the signs of ill health or are also able to see the more subtle indications of what’s holding you back from your real potential?
Amos was an old Askari, a night watchman in the highlands of Kenya. He told me once how electricity had come to their village and that it made him sad because they no longer gathered around the fire together to tell stories. Instead, each stayed in his own house, enthralled…
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