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Your Role in Teamwork
from ABODE April 2020
The second in a follow-up series on Debbie Phillips’ four cornerstones for effective teamwork. By DEBBIE PHILLIPS, Ph.D, CPM, The Quadrillion
Your Role in Teamwork –Commitment
In my last article titled “Your Role in Teamwork,” I introduced commitment as one of the four cornerstones that is essential to high performing teams. In this article, I will share how commitment plays a role in effective teamwork. Anyone who has been in the business world for a fair amount of time is likely familiar with the term Return on Investment or ROI. ROI is the ratio between what you put in (the investment) versus what you get out (the return). I’d like to introduce you to another term: Return on Commitment (ROC). Even for the most seasoned executive, this one is a bit harder to calculate.
Notice I used the used the word commitment, not involvement. In this article, I’ll explore the difference between commitment and involvement, as well as suggest ways to measure ROC.
Different projects present varying degrees of challenges. The success or failure of a project is directly impacted by the degree of commitment from ourselves and our team members. One analogy used to illustrate the distinction between commitment and involvement is the fable of the chicken and the pig. As the story goes, the pig provides bacon, a sacrificial offering, for which the pig must die to provide, versus a chicken that provides the eggs, which is non-sacrificial.
As world-renowned leadership author Ken Blanchard said, “There is a difference between interest and commitment. When you are interested in doing something, you do it only when it’s convenient. When you are committed to
something, you accept no excuses – only results matter.”
Commitment is staying engaged and seeing the project through to the end. In contrast, when someone is involved, they don’t care about the end result. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement at the beginning of a project when things are going well, but if a project derails, only those with a high level of commitment will stick with the challenge to the end. If I am committed, I’m going to get the desired results. If I’m involved, I’m not tied to a particular outcome.
Vince Lombardi, a former football player and coach, said most people fail not because of lack of desire but because of lack of commitment. French philosopher Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre defined commitment as an act, not a word.
Is commitment a personality trait or is it something you can practice and perfect? Research indicates that a high level of personal commitment requires a high level of emotional intelligence. Studies show a positive relationship between the two in varying career paths such as teachers, nurses, industrial workers and finance managers.
Personal Commitment
Typically, commitment can be categorized into two categories: personal and corporate. Personal commitment can be uniquely defined by each individual and often represents the intensity that one as to muster to get to the end goal.
As Sartre believed, a person’s level of commitment is reflected in his or her actions. Involvement doesn’t carry the same cache as commitment and is often looked upon as temporary or transactional. Personal commitment reflects transformational qualities as one develops character, integrity and strength by being committed to a project or cause. Author, salesman and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar once said, “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” What a person becomes through the process of achieving his or her goals can be invaluable to personal development.
Corporate Communication
Corporate commitment is most apparent when individuals come together to share their personal values and their resources in a corporate setting. The apartment industry is made up of many companies that practice corporate commitment by addressing homelessness, feeding the hungry and helping atrisk populations immediately, just to name a few. This is evidenced by the millions of dollars that the National Apartment Association raises for these causes. I’m always proud to share with my students that our industry is one of the most generous industries in the world. For example, NAA has donated more than $5 million to St. Judes Children’s Research Hospital and over $10 million to food pantries across U.S. and Canada.
Corporate commitment is not just demon strated through making financial resources available but through the actions of employees. A satisfied employee is one that is going through the motions, meeting the minimum expectations of the job. An engaged employee demonstrates a high level of commitment to quality work and is genuinely concerned for the well-being of his or her team members. When workers care about their fellow associates, they are more likely to caution them about unsafe work practices. Engaged, committed employees are safer employees – a study by Gallup found that organizations with engagement scores in the top quartile of Gallup's employee engagement database have 70% fewer safety incidents compared with organizations with lower engagement scores. Jack Welch, former General Electric CEO and renowned business consultant, cites employee engagement as the #1 best measure of a company’s health, followed by customer satisfaction and cash flow. Corporations that communicate and demonstrate their values can also affect an employee’s level of commitment.
I often say that most people subscribe to the What’s In It For Me (WIFM) philosophy. Whether people verbalize it or internalize it, they are always thinking about both the psychological and financial payoff that is at stake. People are subconsciously calculating their own ROC. The most important or significant the person or project is, the higher the level of commitment expended. Aubrey C. Daniels, author of Bringing out the Best in People, coined the term discretionary effort. “Discretionary effort is the level of effort people could give if they wanted to, but above and beyond the minimum required,” is how she defines the term.
My doctoral research in the area of employee engagement proved the significance of an individual’s contribution to resident satisfaction, including the likelihood of a resident renewing his or her lease or referring someone to the apartment community. The higher the level of commitment one has to a particular person or project, the more positive the outcome will be. Positive outcomes are reflected in bottom-line performance. When people feel better about themselves and have a passion for the cause, performance increases.
Bottom Line
Commitment can be the glue that keeps you in the game mentally and emotionally. Commitment can also be the glue that holds the team together in all phases of a project. When considering your next project or opportunity, weigh the pros and cons and think about the level of commitment that would be required to achieve radical success. There is always a cost involved in everything we do, and commitment comes with a price. Get committed to yourself first. Investing in your education always pays the highest dividends.
Debbie Phillips is an internationally recognized industry thought leader, educator, career coach, author and speaker who holds a doctorate degree. She has dedicated her life’s work to educating and connecting high potential talent to opportunities in the real estate industry. Phillips can be reached at debbie@thequadrillion.com or 404-787-4409.
