To Be A Leader, Be A Teammate

Lance Armstrong’s reemergence at the Tour de France has created an interesting plot line.  Namely, who leads a team with two leaders?

Believe it or not, cycling is a team sport.  It takes several unselfish teammates, called domestiques, who are willing to do more than their fair share of work in order to help someone else get the glory.

Most teams, therefore, are set up to have one acknowledged leader who has an opportunity to win the race and for whom everyone else protects and works.  Lance, however, joined a team that had the winner of the 2006 Tour de France and arguably the strongest rider in the world today, Alberto Contador.

Last Friday was a day the rift in the team became publicly known.  The team’s game plan had been to control the tempo of the first big climbs by riding out in front and doing the hard work.  Then with a couple miles to go Contador attacked Lance and his teammates to recapture a few seconds and leapfrog Lance by two seconds in the overall standings.

After the race everyone from Lance to the other Astana teammates to the race director agreed that Contador’s attack wasn’t part of the plan.  Lance, to his credit, said that his job right now was to the team and he stayed with the pack to ensure that no attacks from major competitors were forthcoming.

photo by ._SantiMB.

While arguments can be made that it was a shrewd move from a strong rider, it’s a team sport and a repeated game.  There are two weeks left and Contador will need his team to help him if he stands any shot of winning.

So to break from the team plan in order to put himself in a better position made it known where his priorities lie.  It’s all about him, not the team.

A leader and a team make one another better.  It’s a symbiotic relationship where both fail without the other.

Sometimes in order to lead you have to hold yourself back and pull your teammates with you.  Other times they will be pulling you.  But you can be sure that when your motivation is individual glory and you pay no heed to the effort they’ve put in on your behalf that they will find it far more difficult to go to that well again.  They will start asking themselves what’s in it for them?  They’ll need to know that you have their back just as they always have theirs.

To lead a team give your team what you want in return.  You’re not a team leader after all if nobody is following.

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