A change in my language

I've noticed a change in my language lately. Maybe after reading this you will notice a similar shift in yours.

Many of you reading this have people who work for you. This is likely true if you are a business owner, a department head, or an organizational leader of some kind. You can't do it alone. There are simply too many tasks to execute that take too broad a spectrum of strengths to accomplish by just one person.

These people who work for you…what do you call them?

I used to call them employees.

But now I call them team members.

This is an honest-to-God genuine shift that I've noticed in my language. It's not necessarily something I was intending to do, but it just felt right. I realize that when I refer to someone who works under someone else (even saying THAT feels wrong!), I now instinctively call this person a team member, and not an employee. I do this with my own businesses and those of our clients.

Do you feel the difference? It's so clear to me.

We think VERY differently about the same person variously described by either label, don't we?

Employee has an energy of subservience, a position of lowliness, a posture of passivity, waiting for orders from the boss (another word I avoid at all costs).

Team member has an energy of dynamism, a position of strength, a posture of action, a spirit of leadership, taking initiative to serve the higher vision.

Do you feel it?

You have a team whether you know it or not. When we call a group of people a team we imply that they are unified in their mission to execute a strategic objective and that each member is more interested in the success of that mission than their own personal reward or glory. It’s inspiring to see a team in action. It’s one of the reasons we love sports. And music. As a musician I play on teams all the time, even though we don’t tend to call them that, but that’s what it is.

If your company culture seems to be lacking a certain something, I might suggest a similar shift. Make the mental and verbal transition from “employees” to “team members” and watch the people you work with transform into proactive strategic leaders who take initiative to move the mission forward and win hearts and minds in the process.


P.S. This is HIGHLY relevant to marketing, because marketing is the communication component of your company strategy, and strategies need teams, not employees.