Page 156 - The Bible On Leadership

142 THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP

mouth was, with no guarantee that others would follow. He had already
provided large amounts of gold, silver, and precious stones from the
national treasury. His next step in building the team was to donate even
more gold and silver from his personal wealth.
This is just what was needed to galvanize the team: ‘‘Then the leaders
of the families, the officers of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of
thousands and commanders of hundreds . . . gave willingly . . . The
people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had
given freely and wholeheartedly . . .’’ (1 Chron. 29) To forge a team, a
leader often must be the ‘‘consummate team member,’’ a model willing
to selflessly give of his energy and resources so that others are encour-
aged to contribute.
Jan Carlzon of SAS knew he needed the efforts of every member of
the team when he took over Lineflyg, Sweden’s mediocre domestic
airline and an SAS subsidiary. He could have behaved like a typical
CEO or autocratic ‘‘king’’ by coming in and immediately establishing
his authority and issuing orders. Instead, he acted like the team-oriented
King David; he asked for help from every team member.
Carlzon assembled the group (and a group is all it was at that point)
and said, ‘‘The company is not doing well. It’s losing dollars and suffer-
ing from many problems . . . I can’t save this company alone. The only
chance for Lyneflyg to survive is if you help me— I have some ideas of
my own . . . But most importantly, you are the ones who must help me,
not the other way around.’’
This was the first step in Carlzon’s ‘‘group’’ becoming a team. ‘‘We
thought you were going to tell us what to do,’’ noted one employee.
‘‘But you turned the tables on us.’’ Carlzon had succeeded in ‘‘turning
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the me (including himself ) into the we.’’
There are many innovative ways to develop a team. We are all famil-
iar with the ‘‘executive retreat’’ at which top management practices
teamwork by boosting each other over walls and rappelling down cliffs.
Talent Fusion, a digital recruiting firm in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has
devised an off-site team-building event that is more convenient and
costs less: They have a weekly soccer game.
‘‘The game isn’t about proficiency in soccer,’’ notes one of the com-