A friend was venting to me about his son’s lack of playing time. He described how his son was clearly one of the fastest, most talented players on the field, yet the coaches weren’t playing him in the games. He was adamant that his son deserved a bigger role on the team.
I listened to everything my friend had to say, and, frankly, he seemed to have some valid complaints. At his insistence, I agreed to go and watch his son’s next practice and let him know what I thought.
What I observed and reported back to my friend was enlightening—but not in the way he had anticipated.
Practice began with the players warming up with a set of basic calisthenics. They were supposed to do ten repetitions of each exercise. My friend’s son never did more than seven or eight and he never counted aloud with the rest of the team.
When the team ran drills, my friend’s son talked back to coaches anytime they tried to correct his technique.
During scrimmages, my friend’s son excelled. He dominated on the field and wasn’t shy about boasting about his achievement whenever he scored. I found it interesting, however, that he never celebrated when one of his teammates scored. His excitement was limited exclusively to his own achievements.
At the end of practice, the coaches gathered the team for conditioning. My friend’s son didn’t bother to touch the lines when he ran his sprints.
When practice finally concluded, my friend’s son, as I had anticipated, left the field without helping to carry any equipment or clean up the bench area.
My friend was right in that his son was one of the fastest, most talented players on the team. That fact was evident to me. Why he wasn’t getting more playing time was also evident: His values devalued his value to the team.
Your values set the parameters of your value to your team. Good values (loyalty, honesty, integrity, etc.) make you of greater value because they influence team success.
In the case of my friend’s son, the values conveyed during practice were selfishness, pretentiousness, and entitlement. Who would entrust playing time to someone who had those values?
Talent isn’t the only element that defines worth. My friend was angry at his son’s coaches for not playing his son more. He should’ve instead been grateful for them holding his son accountable and teaching him to become a better teammate.
Players with bad values inevitably grow up to become employees with bad values. Selfish, pretentious, entitled employees are a primary source of workplace dysfunction.
If someone you know is feeling undervalued on their team, take a deep look at the values they are espousing. Perhaps it’s their values that are devaluing their worth.
As always…Good teammates care. Good teammates share. Good teammates listen. Go be a good teammate.
