The Need For Tribe
Everyone wants to belong. Everyone wants to feel a part of something significant. No one wakes up in the morning hoping their life is meaningless. We all desire purpose and fulfillment. One of a leader’s responsibility is to rally people together in a mission for a cause. The cause is what unites the people together. The days of working a job for a paycheck without a purpose are coming to an end. The next generation is craving a sense of meaning in their work like never before. The buzzword for this generation is teamwork. People want to be connected to each other, working towards the same goals. There is a social need for belonging that cannot go unmet. People leave people, not companies. They leave because they aren’t in harmony with one another. The research shows that people will stay with a company, even taking less compensation, if the culture is a fantastic fit. We see time and time again that people would rather work in a great culture receiving fewer benefits than work in a highly benefited organization with a toxic culture.
Your team has to become a collective that people feel a part of. They have to feel valued in the tribe and feel that they offer a valuable contribution to the tribe. When your team becomes a tribe, there is a unity that drives performance. This unity becomes the glue that holds the team together by offering three components.
1) Unity Foster Community
Author Jim Collins teaches that the greatest companies create a cult-like culture around their core ideologies. Everyone has to be working towards the same true north. Even if you disagree on specific ideas, everyone needs to share a collective common bond with each other. In The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni wrote, “In the context of building a team, trust is the confidence among the team members that their peers’ intentions are good, and that there is no reason to be protective or careful around the group. In essence, teammates must get comfortable being vulnerable with one another.” The more comfortable we are with each other, the easier creativity flows. A great organizational culture creates community.
2) Unity Gives Immunity
The dictionary defines immunity as protection or exemption from something. When we come together as a unified team, it creates a bond that the competition can’t break. In his famous TED Talk, Why Good Leaders Make You Feel Safe, Simon Sinek stated, “When we feel safe inside the organization, we will naturally combine our talents, our strengths and work tirelessly to face external dangers and seize opportunities for success.” Sinek explains how our foundational development as Homo sapiens was based on creating a “circle of safety” in which we formed tribes to belong and work together. The truth is we are essentially hard-wired for community.
3) Unity Creates Opportunity
We are better together. And because of that betterment, we have more possibilities of success. The stronger our tribe is, the greater our opportunities become. When a team unifies, there is synergistic energy that breeds innovative ideas. The group begins to feed off each other’s ideas and inspiration. Teams that work together win together. Nothing can stop a team that is unified towards the same purpose, strategy, and culture. Individuals may get MVP’s, but teams win championships. This is why spending time working on team-building exercises and educating them on how to grow as a team helps feed into the organization’s overall success. When a team learns together, it creates a collective think tank full of ideas and opportunity.
“Nothing can stop a team that is unified towards the same purpose, strategy, and culture.”
John Barrett
Your team is your tribe, and everyone needs to belong somehow someway. The more energy and effort you put into unifying your team, the greater your success will be. Teamwork is only activated by moving from a me mindset to a we mindset. Don’t just gather people together to work, develop a tribe that is infused with purpose and productivity.
