I was at an executive management conference years ago with senior leadership from all divisions of the company. There were Bankers, Traders, Fund managers, Lawyers, Accountants, and Technologists, all successful people with a variety of skillsets and strong opinions. At one point, an argument broke out with proclamations that the skills and values of one department were superior to that of the other departments. The people in relationship roles argued they were superior to the people in technical roles, those in revenue generating roles were more critical to the success of the business than those in non-revenue roles etc. Of course, the architects of the conference provoked this conversation as they knew that it was critical to the success of the firm that we come together as a cohesive team.
After listening to this banter, I chimed in and pointed out that we were all part of the management team, and like every successful team, the members had different, however complimentary skill-sets. I described a soccer team which had similar dynamics. If you asked a member of the offense, she would take credit for the win, she scored the winning goal, she got the headlines in the news. If you asked a member of the defense, she would proclaim that she was responsible for stopping the other team from scoring goals. She got an assist when she fed the ball directly to the foot of the offensive player who scored the goal.
For a team to be successful, it requires skill and capability in all positions, and most importantly, it requires the teammates to work together, cover for one another, pass to one another, talk to one another. All positions play a crucial role towards the win and must operate effectively with one another for the team to win.
Similarly, in business, people with complimentary skillsets are necessary for the business to be successful and must work together for the business to achieve its success goals.
So, the next time you are comparing your skills to other team members, and think you are better than your teammates who have different skills or play a different role on the team, think twice about whether both skills or roles are required for the team to be successful. Assure you show appreciation for different capabilities, don’t treat teammates with different skills as lesser than you, there’s a good chance that without them, you wouldn’t be successful.