The Building Blocks of a Highly Engaged Team

The Owl and The Beetle: Thursday Memo

I am a dedicated professional who always strives to exceed expectations when working in a team. I always give all I have to contribute to the common goal.

However, when I reflect on those moments of weakness in my motivation, I quickly find common elements that were able to discourage my contribution.

At 25, I was hired by the co-founder and owner of a small system integration company. He was the head of sales, and I was onboarded as his technical advisor. We kicked off our relationship pretty well, and in a few weeks, we traveled the country together, visited prospects, and turned them into clients.

It didn’t take more than a couple of months for us to start having friction. Every time there was a little hiccup, from a problematic prospect not entirely convinced of our solution to a mistake in delivering a product, the CMO was fuming with rage. He was yelling, swearing, and, most importantly, finger-pointing others, always looking for someone to blame. Everyone in our department had developed the ability to fly under the radar to avoid his shenanigans, and for me, going to work became heavy and sad. I quit the company in a few months.

Maintaining a highly motivated team is essential for any organization to succeed.

This essay covers the three pillars I refined over the years that helped me build, maintain, and deploy highly motivated teams.