It’s not about who you “work for”. It’s about who you “work with”. Working together and collaborating is a successful team.
In an earlier post, we discussed people who want to share their knowledge. Now I want to discuss in more detail, people who are insecure and don’t want others to know what they know because it will threaten their position.
1. What Is A Limited Mindset?
The people who are insecure and don’t want to share their knowledge have a mindset that is limited. They believe that there is not enough of a particular thing for everyone. For example, if I was to get a promotion, then they believe that they won’t.
If I was to get a pay rise, then they believe that they won’t. If was to get an award or recognition for something, then they believe they won’t. A limited mindset is not a nice place to be.
DOWNLOAD MY FREE E-BOOK “INSPIRE YOUR PEOPLE”
I have worked with many people who have a limited mindset, and what is common between every one of these people is, it is never their fault. If they don’t get the promotion, it is because somebody else did. If they didn’t get the pay rise, it was because somebody else did.
If they didn’t get the recognition or award, it’s because somebody else did.
People who have a limited mindset, never look within themselves. If they don’t achieve what they want, they look outwards and blame others. We talked earlier about responsibility, and these people are the ones who do not take responsibility for what happens to them.
They never embrace responsibility for that matter. Everything is always about them. It is ME not WE. You probably know people, or work with people who are exactly like this. It would be a good idea to share this article with them, and share my other articles.
2. Sharing Your Knowledge
As you are fully aware by now, I have written this article and created this website to help you, but I also want you to use this site to help others too. As we go through each article, you can notice that each post interlinks and there is a common thread…LEADERSHIP, PERSONAL GROWTH and INFLUENCE.
So when sharing these ideas, please ensure that the same common thread interlinks through them. I find that when teaching a person about the leadership principles that I share is to repeat them every so often when talking about a different topic each time. This keeps the idea’s fresh.
As an example; when working as an engineer for the railway and working on the trains, the first thing that I was taught was about train wire 13. This was when I was working in Liverpool on the Class 507 rolling stock. Train wire 13 goes from coupler to coupler on both ends of the train.
Then throughout the train, wire 13 interlinks everything electrical up. Doors, safety systems, brakes, power, everything. So, INFLUENCE is our train wire 13, and when sharing these leadership principles to another person we need to have that wire 13 (influence) interlinking everything we discuss.
Think of all the different relationships that train wire 13 will have with all the different components throughout the train. As a team member and being part of a team, we ourselves need to become train wire 13 and interlink with each person. In other words build relationships with each one of the team.
3. Helping Others Succeed
But also, we need to help the rest of the team do the same and interlink with everyone, or build relationships with each person. That is the foundation of helping ourselves, helping each team member and helping the team as a whole to SUCCEED.
Imagine what the team could achieve if we were all like train wire 13, and we interlinked with everyone in the team, the other teams in our department, and the organisation as a whole.
I thought of this example a while back; the organisation as a whole is the train, each department are all the different components (doors, brakes, safety systems, couplers, power) and your team is train wire 13 interlinking all the different components (departments) together.
Imagine what you, your team and the organisation could achieve then? Skies the limit.
When going through these articles and through each leadership principle, work on the ones that appeal to you most first. You don’t have to keep them in the order that I have put them in. Your influence will be just as powerful no matter the order, or what you choose to work on.
The same goes to anybody else you want to help and share these principles with.
If you work with people who have a limited mindset, it’s important for them to know that the reason they have this mindset is because of them, and nobody else. They have decided to think this way, not their boss, not their teammates, and not their family.
It is up to them to change their mindset, but it is up to us to help them do that. By sharing these leadership principles and increasing your influence with them, that is the best way to help them change their way of thinking.
The people I have worked with in the past who have a limited mindset, also ensured that the job they did was limited. In other words, the job they did was average. We discussed average a little earlier. They are not bad people.
However, because they are limiting themselves with how they think, and the kind of job they do, they will never become excellent. That is the level we want them to get to. You can help the people you work with who have a limited mindset to become excellent by sharing what you are learning from my website and my articles.
But first, you have to get these principles correct for yourself before you share them. How do you do that? These principles must become habits.
The excellent team members who you know and have worked with do not have a limited mindset, they have a limitless mindset. In other words, they believe that everybody in the team is entitled to all the same opportunities. There is not one person who is better or more privileged.
If you and I were on the same team, and I got a raise, I believe you can too. If you and I were on the same team and I get a promotion, I believe you can too. If you and I were on the same team and I got recognition for an achievement, I believe you can too.
Not only that, if I were to achieve those things before you do, I am going to work my hardest to help you achieve them too. I have a limitless mindset, do you?
4. A Limitless Mindset
You’ve heard the term “limitless”. Know what it means, share what it means, live what it means.
When you make the decision to have a limitless mindset, then the knowledge you have is not yours but everyone’s. You are open to sharing what you know with others. By sharing your knowledge, you will help the team to succeed. You are thinking of WE not ME.
Imagine you were the boss and there was one position available to recruit for. However, you have to choose between two members of your team, and the only difference between the two people is; one is willing to share their knowledge and help others, and the other isn’t.
Who do you choose? Obviously, the team member who is willing to share their knowledge and help others.
DOWNLOAD MY FREE E-BOOK “INSPIRE YOUR PEOPLE”
Again, if you were the boss but you had to let one person go, because the results have been dropping dramatically, and you had to choose between the same two team members. Who would you let go? Obviously, the team member who is not willing to share their knowledge and keep it all to themselves.
I find it amazing that the people who are not willing to share their knowledge actually think they are more valuable to the team and organisation. So, they believe that there job is more secure than the others who do share their knowledge. In fact they are insecure rather than secure.
The people who have a limitless mindset and are willing to share and help others are definitely the most secure, both in themselves and within the team and organisation.
With a limited mindset, you cannot be helped. With a limitless mindset, you must help others.
I welcome hearing how this post has influenced the way you think, the way you lead, or the results you have achieved because of what you’ve learned in it. Please feel free to share your thoughts with me by commenting below.
Check out my other articles by Clicking HERE
All the best,
I loved the post it was very upfront and confronting about the limited mindset tendency out there.
I agree with you that they have to be able to help themselves but a little help from others never goes astray.
Hi Kevin,
Thank you for your comment. So glad you found the article helpful.
Help from others is so important. A lot of people do not accept help from others because either they are so proud or they don’t think they need it. However, as you have said, a little help from others never goes astray…well said 🙂
Keep returning and keep engaging. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch anytime.
All the best,
Tom
thanks for this, love how u nailed it on team work. thank u
Hi Mike,
Thank you for your comment.
Teamwork is so important, it’s great to hear you found value in that part of the article.
If you need any further help then either go through my other articles or don’t hesitate to contact me.
All the best,
Tom
This is extremely helpful and I can resonate with it, 10 Years ago I remember, We got an intern in our team, she was Naive and worried since she had just come from college, I promised myself that I will help this girl since I realized she was very hardworking and willing to do anything to learn!I am in Technology I encouraged her to come early since she was to reports few hrs after us,She would come 2hrs before her schedule and I would go through the process of how we do things I did this because I realized sometimes when she comes when we are already busy it was somehow so hard for her to catch up. We did this for 6 months and she was catching up so fast, Then the gentleman above me left the company and since the girl was doing so well they had to promote one of us to create her position and the get a new one for her position. It was very surprising that she was asked to name one person who contributed to her success,You can all guess who got the position.My story until today is you never know! just do good and keep going! I love sharing what I know and will never stop it. Thank you so much Tom for sharing this…
Hi Mercy,
Thank you for your very thorough comment, and taking the time to share your story. I am really happy that you found the article helpful.
I love your story. Helping the young intern when she first started was absolutely the right thing to do. She obviously felt that you were going the extra mile for her and loved working with you, as she was putting in just as much effort. This is a leadership success story and I am really impressed by your story. It’s great that you end the story on you getting a well deserved promotion, so congratulations on that. All because you wanted to help others and serve someone, which is what leadership is all about.
Thank you again for sharing your amazing story.
If you need any further help with anything then please don’t hesitate to contact me.
All the best,
Tom
Thank you for a site stacked full of useful information on building relationship and teamwork. This blogs is all about helping other. I agree whole heartily on the content of this site.
Hi Cynthia,
Thank you for you for your comment. I am so pleased that you found the article and my website helpful.
Keep returning as there are three blogs being posted every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
All the best,
Tom
This is an awesome post on how to help others succeed, and me being a business mentor this is something I need to do pretty much every day. You have provided me some new ideas from reading your article, so with this information I can be even a better business mentor.
Thank you
Jeff
Hi Jeff,
Thank you for your comment. I’m really pleased you found it useful.
It’s great to hear that you can put into practice some new ideas from the article that will help you with your mentoring.
If you need any further help or advice on how your mentoring is going, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Keep leading and keep engaging.
All the best,
Tom
Hello Tom,
I enjoyed this article and found it encouraging. I once was the “sharing my knowledge” type of person at work, but then changed after people I trained moved up and I never did.
Now, I have decided to share as little as possible, meaning that I don’t go into great detail about how to fix something in the machines I run and mechanic.
I can see how this could be selfish and with a limited mindset. I love my job and will try going back to my old self providing enough information to actually help people perform their jobs better. Even if it means they may get promoted, at least I could feel good about myself for being able to help others succeed.
Thanks for getting me to see things in a different light.
I hate it when people don’t share what they know with me on the job, therefore, I shouldn’t be that way either. I know that I am a better person than that.
I look forward to reading more of your articles. This is a well put together site!
Best Wishes,
Devara
Hi Devara,
Thank you for your very honest comment. I am so pleased that you found the article valuable.
It can be difficult when you are helping a person and sharing your knowledge, then they get promoted, and you get overlooked. That has happened to me before and I felt terrible. However, I started to look at the situation differently, and I actually felt great that I was part of the journey that helped my colleague progress. Just like you have done here.
By helping others, you are helping yourself too. This is part of working on yourself every day. Putting others first and helping them is exactly what a leader does. If you do that then you are well on your way to becoming a highly effective leader.
I look forward to reading more of your comments and how your are doing in your leadership.
All the best,
Tom
Collaboration or teamwork is a must in this world in order for anyone to succeed in life. We as individuals cannot know everything. We also cannot accomplish or acquire everything that we need for the next 24 hours within the 24 hours that we are allotted daily.
My time on an Aircraft Carrier showed me that the vessel only functioned amazingly efficiently because there were close to 6000 men who had their specific tasks to accomplish daily.
Great post Tom!
Stay well and stay safe!
Joe
Hi Joe,
Thank you for your comment and amazing insight. I’m really pleased that you found the article helpful.
We really do need teamwork and collaboration to succeed. I love your example of the aircaft carrier. When I worked on trains, it was exactly the same but only on a much smaller scale.
Keep leading and keep engaging.
All the best,
Tom
Great Article Tom,
It was very profound reading it at this point in time when peoples mindsets are challenged and kindness and thoughtfulness should be at the forefront . I can really relate to your article , I am sure people with an open mind set can as well . It resonated with me as sometimes we think when we come across these people , we are the only ones who see them – I am glad you have to Tom – makes me feel better !
Hi Amera,
Thank you for your lovely comment. I am so pleased that you found the article valuable.
This is a really tough time in our lives and we are relying on leaders more than ever. The best leaders in the world are servants, and are very kind and put their people first. Just like our heroes in the NHS are doing.
It is great that we see it, and I hope many more people do too.
It’s great that you feel great. Keep leading and keep engaging Amera.
All the best,
Tom