Teamwork Is Not Egalitarian

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Charles Lee

Egalitarianism is often defined as a social philosophy advocating the removal of inequalities among people, especially with respect to social, political, and economic affairs.

While this is something that we should strive for when it comes to human rights, I think this philosophy can be detrimental if applied to a context of working with a team in an organization or business. In theory, it sounds wonderful to have “equal” voice in leadership. Nevertheless, organizations and businesses that thrive tend to have clear understanding of the pecking order of leadership.

The egalitarian spirit is something that we should all embrace, but nevertheless, we need to be clear in our understanding of how it relates to the decision-making process. While it is very healthy to create pathways for team members of all levels of leadership to provide input for endeavors, that is far different from allowing everyone to have equal weight of input.

Too many teams in the name of creating equal voice have experienced paralysis and inability to move forward. A big part of leadership is that you have to “lead”. Creating a clear picture of how decisions are made and how people provide input can save an organization and company countless hours of unnecessary frustration and strife.

Charles Lee is the CEO of Ideation, an idea agency that specializes in helping organizations and businesses take their ideas and make them remarkable via creative strategy, branding, design, marketing, web, social media, and custom events. He is also the author of Good Idea. Now What? (coming Feb 2012). In addition, Charles is the creator of grassroots efforts including JustOne, the Idea Camp, Ideation Conference, and the Freeze Project as well as the co-founder of JustOne. Charles regularly speaks around the country on topics such as creative process, idea-making, innovation, branding, new media, and compassionate justice.

More from Charles Lee or visit Charles at http://www.charlestlee.com/

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