The Program

13Meet the Standards: Be a Thumb Teammate!

JAM YOUR THUMB INTO your chest repeatedly. That is being a thumb teammate. Point your index finger at a teammate. That is being a finger teammate.

Great teammates consistently meet the organization’s standards, and then hold their teammates accountable to achieving them. Accountability makes us the best versions of ourselves. Our competition, and the battlefields where we compete, will demand our very best. Unfortunately, if we wait until those moments to give it, we are doomed to mission failure. Great teammates understand this. Great teammates hold teammates accountable, but to do so successfully, we must first be “a thumb teammate.” As discussed in Chapter 2, one of the first lessons all Marine Corps officers are taught is “Never ask a Marine to do something that you aren’t willing to do yourself.” Otherwise, Marines will never trust or respect you, both vital characteristics of teammates in any world-class organization, and often two of the Core Values of high-performing teams.

Too often though, teammates cut corners on Monday, but then try to hold other teammates accountable for the same issue on Tuesday. We have no right to be “a finger teammate” if we have not already been “a thumb teammate” first. An unwillingness to do so causes individual relationships and teams to fracture and fail. Standards reinforce behaviors and how we behave requires us to make a choice. It does not require talent. Therefore, if we choose not to be ...