Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and golajving. This
Speaker 1: is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul
Speaker 1: fella Aledo. Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute
Speaker 1: Leadership Podcast. It's episode four oh seven. So I was
Speaker 1: cooking the other day and while I was cutting up
Speaker 1: some ingredients for my dish, it made me think about teamwork. Crazy,
Speaker 1: I know, but that's how my mind works. So for
Speaker 1: this episode, I want you to picture a big pot
Speaker 1: of water on the stove. You toss in some ingredients, carrots, onion,
Speaker 1: a little garlic, maybe some meat. Now here's the key question.
Speaker 1: Are you cooking a meal or are you just boiling parts?
Speaker 1: Because that's exactly what teamwork is. A group of individuals
Speaker 1: all tossed into the same environment with the hope that
Speaker 1: they'll come together and become something better, something useful, something
Speaker 1: others want to be around, something that can feed results.
Speaker 1: But here's the truth that most teams never hear. Just
Speaker 1: being in the same pot doesn't make you a team.
Speaker 1: Just being at the same meeting, wearing the same logo,
Speaker 1: or responding to the same supervisor doesn't mean you're working together.
Speaker 1: That's the difference between a soup and a pot of
Speaker 1: hot water with raw ingredients floating around aimlessly. A great
Speaker 1: team is like a well made soup. You blend, you
Speaker 1: break down a little, you share flavors, and what comes
Speaker 1: out is something that's warm, inviting and actually works. It nourishes,
Speaker 1: it has impact. But when people show up only for themselves,
Speaker 1: when they guard their roles, avoid collect aberration, refuse to
Speaker 1: give feedback or receive it, that team never blends. It's
Speaker 1: just floating pieces. You know what. That tastes like nothing,
Speaker 1: no purpose, no value, and no one asks for seconds.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about what causes teams to float instead
Speaker 1: of blend. Number one ego over outcome. If everyone wants
Speaker 1: to be the main ingredient, no one wins. A soup
Speaker 1: doesn't need five spices all trying to outshine each other.
Speaker 1: It needs balance. Number two fear of vulnerability. Blending means
Speaker 1: giving a little of yourself. It means trusting others with
Speaker 1: your ideas, your process, and sometimes your mistakes. Floating is safer,
Speaker 1: but blending is where the flavor comes from. Number three
Speaker 1: lack of shared heat. For real teamwork to happen, you've
Speaker 1: got to go through the fire together, shared pressure, shared goals,
Speaker 1: shared deadlines. That's how ingredients break down and mix. Number four,
Speaker 1: No one's stirring the pot. If the leader isn't stirring
Speaker 1: things up, asking questions, challenging the team to combine talents,
Speaker 1: or even just checking on the flavor, you'll end up
Speaker 1: with separation. Leading isn't just managing time, it's managing togetherness.
Speaker 1: And here's the reality check for leaders. If your team
Speaker 1: feels like a group of talented individuals who happen to
Speaker 1: be on the same email chain, you're not leading a team.
Speaker 1: You're managing ingredients. So how do you fix it? One
Speaker 1: Define the recipe. Make sure everyone knows what you're trying
Speaker 1: to create. If one person thinks it's chilly and another
Speaker 1: thinks it's stew, your team will never blend. Vision has
Speaker 1: to be shared. Number two. Stir often, check in, mix
Speaker 1: people up, don't let silos form. Ask how people are
Speaker 1: working together. Praise great collaboration out loud. Three turn up
Speaker 1: the heat. Give your team something worth blending for. Set
Speaker 1: goals that require unity, not just individual execution. And four
Speaker 1: let it simmer. Some teams need time. Let them cook,
Speaker 1: but keep the lid on, don't walk away from the pot.
Speaker 1: And finally, if someone refuses to blend, if they always
Speaker 1: float above the work, avoid getting involved or worse, ruin
Speaker 1: the taste for everyone else. You've got to address it.
Speaker 1: One raw potato left in the pot can spoil everything.
Speaker 1: So teamwork isn't about perfection, It's about participation. It's about
Speaker 1: dissolving a little so that together the team becomes something
Speaker 1: better than any single part. That's what great leadership builds,
Speaker 1: not a list of names on a schedule, but a
Speaker 1: unified group that shares purpose, pressure, and pride. So leaders
Speaker 1: step back this week and ask yourself what's cooking. Do
Speaker 1: you have a team that's blended into something others want
Speaker 1: to be a part of, or do you just have
Speaker 1: a boiling pot of raw ingredients that never really become
Speaker 1: a meal. This has been the seven minute Leadership Podcast
Speaker 1: and I thank you for listening. For more Paul Fell
Speaker 1: of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com.