Page 164 - Fearless Leadership

Standing for the Success of Each Other 151

want them to think differently will not change what they do. Instead, help
others learn how to engage with a new set of rules for working as commit-
ted partners. Committed partnerships must become a permanent part of
your organization so people say “This is the way we do things here—we
stand for the success of each other.”

COMMITTED PARTNERS: AN EXTRAORDINARY
LEVEL OF TRUST AND OWNERSHIP
In case you believe that a committed partnership is a luxury item rather than
a necessity, let me set the record straight. You cannot build a high perfor-
mance organization or team without committed partnerships: it is simply
not possible. A high level of ownership from leaders and employees is
required to reach world-class status and outperform competitors, and all of
this requires committed partnerships. People must learn how to work as inter-
dependent teams. Committed partners look out for each other and the
organization, and they go far beyond their formal roles and responsibilities.
To get a fuller understanding of committed partnership, let’s explore it
in practice. Committed partners do not tolerate blind spots such as blam-
ing others. They are quick to hold each other accountable for rising above
circumstances and not getting trapped in victim mentality. It is this excep-
tional level of ownership that allows partners to look out for the welfare
of the entire organization, rather than resorting to the automatic behav-
ior of turf wars and unhealthy competition.
Committed partners apply a disciplined methodology that safeguards
against the damage of blind spots and gives them the tools to act with
speed. The operative factor is that individuals and teams learn how to work
together. This learned behavior transforms traditional teams into high per-
formance teams.
As we discussed in Chapter 5, your job is to fuse people and business
objectives together so they are interdependent factors for achieving long-
term success. Without exception, you must elevate how people work
together to the level of critical importance.
You do not need to have all the answers to initiate committed partner-
ships. In fact, you must be willing to lead without having all the answers.
However, you must have a clear goal: making committed partnerships and
100% accountability your new organizational norm.