Sean GlazeWorkplace Culture Speaker | Facilitator, Great Results Team Building · Leadership lessons from the locker room that change how your people work together.

WHY TREADING WATER LEADS TO DISENGAGED TEAM MEMBERS

2 Feb 2023 · 1 min

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This content was created by Sean Glaze. This content was uploaded by Sean Glaze. This is a YouTube talk titled "WHY TREADING WATER LEADS TO DISENGAGED TEAM MEMBERS" (created 2023-02-02). The excerpt is an English presentation by an instructor reflecting on motivation in classrooms and teams, using an island/treading-water analogy: without a visible, compelling goal (an "island"), people eventually give up despite ability or effort. The speaker draws on ~15 years of teaching experience and advises leaders to ensure team members understand why they are there.

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Our second day of class was about an island. And I would ask them to imagine that they were stranded in the middle of the ocean, and they're treading water, and in every direction there is nothing but water on the horizon. You might be really strong. You might be able to tread water for 5 minutes, or for 10 minutes, or for 2 hours, or for 2 weeks. But at some point, what is every person in this room going to do? Quit. You're going to give up, and you're going to sink. Not because you didn't have strength, or determination, or charisma, or capability, or intelligence, or talent, but because you didn't have an island that you saw that you could swim to. And that was the single most important day that I had with any student that I ever taught the last decade and a half of my teaching career. Every person that could complete that essay and had, in 10 years, a compelling common goal, my class, or Spanish, or algebra, whatever else they were taking, that became something that was far more meaningful because it was part of a journey to something significant. And it's the same for you and your teams. If people don't know why they're there, they won't do as much while they're there. Think about that.