Employees VS Team Members

Why do you work?

Past seven years have brought many revelations to me on the subject of purpose at work. Considering that people spend a major part of their adult life at work, it ought to be of a high importance to find a comfortable occupation that would generate a sense of satisfaction by contributing to a greater whole, working on a big deal and constantly sailing towards new horizons.

To aim for a purpose, the environment you are part of must support it. However, even nowadays, many companies do not sufficiently understand the benefits of commitment and their departments are crowded with zombies, clinging to their routines in an alienated environment, punching the clock at 5 p.m.

“Why do you work? What is your mission statement?” I have been asking this question since I got my first full-time job. Frankly, I’ve come across only two companies where did I find a few people who gave me the answer I was looking for, two out of… I lost my count.

“Why do you work here?”
“I dunno, need to finish this, sry…”, replied a colleague of mine when I asked him back in 2015. He was way too busy in getting his stored SQL procedures ready for deployment so that he could catch the train on time. And it was so every time I asked him again.

There was another guy, a corporate CTO I chatted with in summer 2018 while going home from the training. As far as I remember, he worked in a bank.
“You know that the mortgage for my house won’t pay itself every month, right?” Was his answer
I advanced the conversation a bit further and eventually asked another question: “And what is an ideal employee, to your opinion?”
“An ideal employee? Definitely someone who has got a family, a mortgage if possible or is even suffocating in debts.“
“Why so?”
“Because they won’t quit. You see, I’m not interested in having our department turned upside down by some hyperactive pioneers. I’m betting on those that won’t quit so easily. It takes years to get into the project, you know…”

Of course, it takes several years to get into the project, as the company allowed a culture of jerks who have been keeping back their knowledge to gain power and become indispensable. Any new hire had to figure out everything on their own. In regard to “hyperactive pioneers”, this was an interesting interpretation of people that dared to come up with fresh ideas that were crushed by ossified authorities. Novelty leads to problems because it would allow people from the bottom levels to take initiative. The result is a company culture that is either non-existent or convulsing, leaving not enough space for individuals to exploit their potential. There were no teams, only isolated employees.

While applying for a job, I always take an interest in things like company culture and teamwork. I was surprised that this question was so difficult for some to answer. At written conversation, a few even never replied back.

“Company culture? Uhm.. well.. this could answer someone from the office management. Anyway, I wanted to ask what your hourly rate is?”
PM from a software house, 2018.

I was actually interested in what this company looks like, so I came over for a coffee and realized that my judgment served me well — there was no hooray in the air, no excitement, even the people that ran the meeting acted like the circumstances actually forced them to hire somebody. When I asked the why-do-you-work-here question again, the CEO I was dealing with replied with an icy certainty: “My job is to ensure this studio keeps running”.

I wondered — if those people are merely working a j-o-b, do they pursue something in other areas of their life that gives them purpose?

I tried to figure out what discerns those “employees” from the ones who actually do pursue something. The conclusion I’ve come to is that many people with pursuing attitude and positive mindset are mostly associated with one ability — they are great Team Members.

Employees vs Team Members

The term “Team Member” might be a bit misleading. It’s not only about being in a team — there is a lot more to it. Team member is a crusader, it’s a person who take their job as a quest for a higher cause. It’s a person who vigorously follow common goal and fights for the whole. Even a company with no particular teams may have team members, even an individual may become a team of one. It’s primarily about the mindset, not about the fact that somebody is working in a group of people.

This list can’t be applied to everybody, of course. Let’s say that members of each group incline to respective points.

• Employees work for money. Team members work for facilitating achievements of their goals.
• Employees weight their effort based on how the outcome can benefit their wallet and their resumé. Team members weight their effort based on how big impact they can deliver.
• Employees speak about themselves and their own accomplishments. Team members speak about the team and accomplishments of the team (me vs we).
• Employees love checklists. Team members love challenges.
• Employees have achieved their position through their relationship with the management. Team members did so through a hard effort.
• Employees quit if someone offers them a bigger pay. Team members quit when they lose their purpose.
• Employees are loyal to themselves. Team members are dedicated to the team and the community.
• Employees need managers who will boss them around. Team members need leaders that will help them succeed.
• Employees leave at 5 o’clock. Team members leave when they’re done with what they are rocking on.
• Employees have a job. Team members have a mission.
• Employees conceal their knowledge. Team members share their knowledge.

To sum up, team members provide service — to the team, to the community and to the company. Either by bringing occasional gifts (everyone loves cookies and cakes), new innovative insights or just dedicating time that goes beyond the scope of their role on figuring out how to make things better.

Company that gives people purpose and satisfaction is a company that puts a big focus on the teamwork.

“You wanna break up my crew two days before the launch, when we can predict each other’s moves, we can read the tone of each other’s voices?”
Tom Hanks playing Jim Lovell, the movie of Apollo 13 (when a member of his crew gets replaced).

On the other hand, team members are more fragile and sensitive to the changes in the environment. One bad person in the team may ruin the whole teamwork and one good “sidekick” who quits may trigger an exodus. It takes a lot of effort to take a good care of teams and the management must provide a consistent support.

I also worked for a company that presented itself as a company that puts teamwork and commitment as their top priority and from the outside it really looked like so. Yet the management completely failed with their enduring practices that were based on leading by fear of not getting job done in estimated time, which all resulted in a turnover. The management was an issue.

In my previous company, we had an amazing team — our own office, own stickers, basically our own identity. Sadly, the team eventually disbanded, as the project we worked on didn’t bring any enjoyment and the company itself failed in demonstrating a sufficient degree of care. Both the project and the management was an issue.

Employees are more stress-resistant than team members. They want to get the job done whatever it is and go home. True, you can’t expect them to do something that goes beyond their list of responsibilities. Still, they will do the dirty work as long as they get paid. On the other hand, when tough times hit, the company stumbles and their revenue gets affected, they disappear. Employees are ideal for pathological and bureaucratic companies as they do their job without questions. Raised hands are the last thing some companies need.

Purpose, teamwork and commitment

Most companies know how to run their business, yet very few know why they do it at all. They ultimately measure their success in terms of profit and revenue, but something is slipping through their fingers.

It’s all connected — purpose, teamwork, and commitment. As humans, we are driven by purpose. When our work is linked to the vision of the environment we are part of, it gives us a mission statement. In addition to that, companies with well-founded teams evolve faster because the knowledge is shared, because people help each other to achieve a common goal — teamwork is crucial for evolution.

On the other hand, team-driven company is something that can’t be implemented overnight just by reading a few books — attempting to mimic another company’s practices contradicts the essence of generative culture. You can’t dictate trust, it has to develop on its own. And the development is made possible if the management serves their teams well. Serving is a topic onto itself, as it requires the management to completely change their attitude. It’s very simple to be a bad manager, aggregate power and take credit at the expense of the people below. A good manager is actually more of a servant, serving the people by leading them, which is not easy to accept, especially for those blinded by ego.

Conclusion

Why do you work? Because you like challenges? Because you want to spend time with people of similar interests? Because you want to achieve a big deal? Or because you just want to get paid?

Centuries ago, the purpose of work was to earn enough money to provide food and shelter for the family, that was it. For many, this “purpose” has spilled over into affording bigger homes, bigger cars, yet it’s still not enough to keep people energized throughout the life. No goal, no purpose. No purpose, no motivation. Working for money doesn’t grant you true purpose.

A company is just a reflection of individuals. I haven’t seen a single company that would only consist of passionated team members, yet I have seen many that consisted only of mere employees. If the company doesn’t give true purpose to its people, it is a company with no soul — it’s just an empty shell, no matter how big profit it generates.

“And though we possess all knowledge and understand all pieces; and though we have all power, so that we deliver impact, and give ourselves not purpose, we are nothing. It profiteth us nothing.”