include or exclude, don't be indifferent II - Heroes & Outsiders

There are only 2 kinds of people in a team: Heroes, or Outsiders.
(There's no "average team members")

Heroes care, heroes think & take action & take risks all the time.
Outsiders don't care, outsiders do the minimum & play it safe.

Sometimes we become heroes because we are made to do so: people give us their trust and count on us; sometimes we become heroes because We enjoy the action, we enjoy feeling important, we enjoy being on the front line putting out the fire...

We just enjoy playing the hero. Just another kind of vanity.

Sometimes we become outsiders because we don't believe in the team's mission/values (we are in only for the paycheck or the title); sometimes we become outsiders simply because we feel like outsiders ...so we stop giving a damn...

We just don't see why the heck should we put the team's interests before ours.

......

If you're the team leader, and you spot outsiders in your team, what'd you do?

The answer, I guess, lies in another question: who in your team is(are) playing the hero(es)?

Those who are not heroes are all outsiders (Hopefully you are not the only hero in your team).

Great things are done by a team of dedicated heroES, not a single hero (despite what the movies show)...if your team is not made up completely of heroes busy attacking or building...somewhere in someone an outsider is in the making...

Avoid one-man show (or two-men, for that matter).

If your project is too small to accommodate too many heroes, assign them to another project, give 'em day off, send 'em to training or volunteer work for charity, let them start their own projects...Or better yet, let them go, help them shine elsewhere.

Don't make them sit there watch you playing hero.

It's not leadership, but a selfish display of vanity.

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side note: if you (or your team/org) got a mission, Live it, or dump it.