Push a hockey puck on concrete and I can bet you it wouldn’t get very far. But push it on a sheet of ice and the puck goes at least 10 times farther. Why?
Friction.
Friction affects all moving objects, no matter their size or how much energy they have. It’s an immutable law of nature. If you want to move farther or faster, then you must lower the friction.
It’s the main reason that multiple swimmers broke World Records during the 2008 Olympic games. The frictional coefficient of their racing suits dropped dramatically, which reduced the friction affecting their swimming.
Now here’s another immutable law: within teams, friction will always exist.
People will always have their differences. They will want to complain about each other. They will want to withhold information from the group. They might even try to undermine their colleagues to gain all the glory.
It’s your main job as the leader to reduce the friction in the group.
Yet, you have been brainwashed to believe that you only provide the forward energy for the team. It’s what we’ve learned from our current society. We constantly immortalize the leader that did something drastic to turn around the struggling team.
But remove the friction that holds the team back and you improve your team’s speed. You get the same final result and you save time and energy in execution.
If you’re looking to be a more effective leader tomorrow, ask yourself what blocks can you remove from their performance?
A New Source Code 