The Ideal
Team Player material is fascinating and I thought it would be interesting to share with
the older kids on our mission team (6th-9th grade). I was pretty sure they would enjoy it, but I
didn’t want to present it in a way that was merely theoretical or based on
stories from my own experience. I
wondered if it would be possible to use a case study to lead them through a
journey of discovery and wanted them to apply these ideas by exploring it from the angle of characters and stories they
are all familiar with (I'm a big believer in leadership case studies and the power of fiction - see here, here and here). After considered asking
for examples from Star Wars or Ninjago or books they’ve read, it hit me
that J.K. Rowling’s materials were a treasure trove of developed characters to
choose from that all of us were familiar with.
It ended up being an even richer experience than I imagined!
I began by presenting Lencioni’s ideas, definitions, and his
Venn diagram to them and then we tried to place different characters from the
Harry Potter stories in their proper locations.
Check out what we came up with:
Some of the characters were easier for us to place than
others. Gilderoy Lockhart is obviously a
“Charmer.” And Professor Umbridge occupies the position that Lencioni believes
to be the most dangerous spot on the board: “Skillful Politician.” But other characters were harder to place. For example, we realized that Neville begins
in the category of “Pawn” but learns to assert himself and moves towards the
intersection of all three virtues (this led to a discussion on how people can
grow and change for the better). Harry is in the center of the map, but was
often tempted to move out of that space (here we recognized that it takes vigilance
to remain an ideal team player). The
kids had fun noting similarities in the origin stories of Voldemort and
Dumbledore and the differences in their life choices (we noticed that having
good parents or a loving community could put someone in a position to succeed
and move towards the center of the diagram). We even had fun guessing where the
Hogwarts’ sorting houses would be located on the diagram (our guesses… Slytherin-Hungry;
Hufflepuff-Humble; Ravenclaw-Smart; and, of course, Gryffindor-Ideal).
Using the Harry Potter story to reveal and better understand
Lencioni’s system helped us then move into the practical questions of how the
kids themselves would define what it means to be hungry, humble, and (people)
smart in their own school setting? The Harry
Potter story helped us bridge the gap from Lencioni’s theory to practice – what
it would look like to make use of these principles in a company, on a mission
team, a group of interns, students working on a project together. It led to reflection on how this knowledge
not only helps us to be better team players but also helps us identify the kind
of team players that we want to work with.
After using the Harry Potter story, I gave everyone time to
reflect individually on their own story:
Where are you on this chart? Where
are your strengths and weaknesses? What
circle has the strongest gravitational pull for you (Hungry, Humble or (People)
Smart)? How can you improve and move
towards becoming an Ideal team player?
How can we respond to the challenge to cultivate these virtues?
I really like the way Lencioni’s book (which also, we should
remember, uses a narrative to present these concepts!) ends with a reflection
on the story of Jesus and how Christ’s story also reveals the truth in his
system. The Ideal Team Player ends with a final thought that points to
Jesus as the embodiment of all of these virtues – especially the key virtue of
humility.
“The most compelling example of humility in the history of mankind can be found in Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity. He attracted people of all kinds when he walked the earth, and continues to do so today, providing an example of humility that is as powerful as it is countercultural. And so, it is my hope that readers of this book will take something else away with them and apply it in their lives: an appreciation for the true gift that it is to be humble and the divine origins of that virtue.” (215)
From start to finish, Lencioni uses stories to reveal
his system, and Abby, Ellie, Maggie, Luke, Andrew and I found that the Harry
Potter story was a helpful and enjoyable way to explore this material together.
Grace and Peace,
Alan
P.S. Special thanks to Ellie Howell for the drawings of these diagrams!
