Commitment: Understanding the Heart and Soul of the Team

“…and I will shoulder more than my share of the task, whatever it may be, one-hundred percent and then some.” — The US Army Ranger Creed

If you’ve ever been on a team, then you understand the relevance of commitment. Yet despite the fact that commitment is a timeless fundamental of successful teams, we still struggle to understand it. We struggle to develop commitment in ourselves and in others. We struggle to display it. Why? Why is commitment elusive and misunderstood?

Well, first, true commitment is at odds with human nature. And second, we complicate commitment…although it should be — and is — a simple phenomenon. Consider this definition of commitment: willing dedication or allegiance to a cause or a team. Ten words, that’s all. Yet ask various leaders you know to explain commitment — and if you really want to throw them for a loop, ask them to define its value to the team. I did. “Oh, boy,” one leader initially replied. Three days later he sent me his thoughts.

Now, I’m not judging. I only asked the question about commitment because I couldn’t answer it myself. But the asking did get me thinking, and reading, and thinking, and reading. As a result, I have a few more answers about commitment than when I started. And I also confirmed a few things that aided me in my leadership journey.

1. Commitment has nothing to do with you. It has nothing to do with me. But it does have everything to do with we. If a team member’s first priority is to the role he/she will have in the team’s accomplishments, then that team member lacks the sort of commitment necessary for the team to achieve its most lofty goals. Now, I’m sure more than a few people will disagree with me. That’s fine. To be sure, I required quite some time to agree with myself on this. But now I’m ready to debate my opinion. Mediocrity is easy to spot.

2. Commitment is rooted in trust. Commitment is void of “me,” but trust is not. Leaders understand that trust must come first. Team members must fully trust that a leader has their best interests in mind before they can set their personal desires aside and fully commit to the team’s purpose. I once heard a leader say, “I don’t believe in building trust…it should come automatically.” I did a double take. What the…!? No surprise that this leader’s team had problems with commitment.

3. Commitment doesn’t happen by accident. Becoming truly committed to a team or cause is a maturation process. Commitment is the ideal result of a clear vision with the gift of purpose handed down by a leader of character. If you’re in a leadership position and the previous sentence confuses you, then you’ve likely failed to provide either vision or purpose. This is not okay.

Easier to understand, and quite frankly, easier to see in action, are the enemies of commitment. In addition to the common enemy known as “what’s in it for me?” or “me first,” two others are lurking and WILL destroy a team if not attacked with intention.

The first is compliance, the act of conforming with a requirement or a demand. Compliance is tricky since teams can’t live without it. Or can they? To understand the threat that compliance poses to a team, leaders should associate compliance with the MINIMUM standard, not THE standard. Team members who consistently demonstrate simple compliance may not be fully committed to the team. Consider this: On elite teams, team members always exceed the minimum standard, thereby defeating the threat posed by compliance. Compliance on these teams isn’t an issue. But when the minimum standard becomes the standard, leaders should be concerned. The enemy is at the gates.

Compliance-level commitment, if unchecked, will eventually invite complacency, the second enemy. Few things will destroy a team faster than complacency. I’ve seen such destruction firsthand, and it’s not a pretty thing. But what is complacency? Here’s one definition: a feeling of smug or uncritical satisfaction with one’s abilities or achievements, especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies. From this we can clearly see that complacency is a team-killer, but sadly, few leaders ever recognize that complacency has crept in — which is an indicator that the leaders themselves have become complacent. Let me offer a word to the wise. If you even think for a second that complacency has reared its head in your organization, you’re right: it has. Trust your gut. Turn a blind eye if you wish, but know that the end is coming soon.

So, where does your team rate when it comes to commitment? Only you would know. Fighting off the enemies of commitment can be difficult. I get it. But that’s what leaders do. The fight may be exhausting, especially in an era when many employees are seeking opportunities to work from home, athletes are distracted by Name-Image-Likeness opportunities, privileges get confused for rights, and leaders’ authority is minimized. But leaders who care about the future of their teams must never tire of the hard work required to achieve commitment from their people.