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One of my wife’s favorite childhood memories is of the day she accompanied her father to a meeting in the state capital.

Her father was the supervisor of a state park and was occasionally required to travel to the Capitol for official business.

As he paraded his precocious daughter through the offices on this particular day, introducing her to his colleagues, he grew increasingly humored by how charming the six-year old seemed to be towards the adults.

At some point during the visit, my wife commented to a man that she really liked the poster hanging in his office. It was a photo of a group of disorganized ducks, with the caption “Lead. Follow. Or Get out of the way.”

Upon hearing of her fondness for the poster, the man promptly removed it from his wall and gave it to the cute little girl to take home with her.

That duck poster hung in her bedroom throughout her childhood. It hung in her dormitory throughout her college years. And it hung in her crammed apartment throughout her twentysomething years.

Although time had caused the poster to become frayed and faded, it continued to offer my wife sound life advice: Lead. Follow. Or get out of the way.

Before we were married, I remember seeing that poster whenever I came to visit and reading the caption.

It’s a catchy, iconic phrase that has been around for generations. It’s been used in presidential debates and in the titles of autobiographies. A quick Google search credits the quote to everybody from Thomas Paine to General George Patton to Ted Turner. The truth is no one can really seem to pin down exactly who first uttered those words.

As I dive deeper into the Be a Good Teammate mindset, though, the essence of the duck poster message has taken on new relevance for me.

I’ve learned that there is no consistent role into which a good teammate must fall. In fact, the spirit of being a good teammate is about your ability to adapt your role to team circumstances.

There are times when you need to lead. You have an obligation to the team to step up and take action. Maybe it is to provide direction to your teammates. Maybe it is to confront a source of toxicity within the team. But there are times when you need to have the courage to lead.

There are also times when you need to follow. Second-guessing decisions and questioning authority will eventually undermine the team’s potential for achievement. Sometimes being a good teammate means you need to get beyond your own opinions and get onboard with what is best for the team. That means having the humility to follow.

And then there are those times when you don’t know whether to lead or follow. In those moments, you need to have the courage, the humility, and the wisdom to simply get out of the way. You cannot allow your paralysis by analysis to hinder your team’s progress.

Everyone on the team has a different role. However, every role is important and every role affects the team’s capacity to succeed. Based on the circumstances of the situation, your role can change at any given moment.

Don’t resist the change. Adapt. Lead. Follow. Or get out of the way.

I don’t know what ever became of the man who generously parted ways with his duck poster. But I can tell you that giving it to that charming six-year old was a good teammate move on his part—a move that most certainly had an impact on her life…my life…and now your life.

As always, remember: Good teammates care. Good teammates share. Good teammates listen. Go be a good teammate.

 

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