F3 Most of us assume that on a team there are helpful actions, harmful actions, and a big neutral middle where what we do does not much matter. F3’s field manual, by way of a golf lesson, says that neutral middle does not exist.
What’s the golf lesson about?
Wind, and what actually counts. F3’s author tells of stepping up to a tee on a windy day and tossing grass in the air to read the wind, the way he had seen good golfers do for years. A far better player asked him why. What does the wind on the tee box matter, he said; just look at the flag on the green. And a crosswind? Same as a headwind, hit an extra club. The point stuck: in golf, wind is either helping you or hurting you. There is no neutral wind. A crosswind is just a headwind wearing a disguise. The same turns out to be true well off the golf course.
How does that apply to a team?
Exactly the same way, F3 says. Every single action a team member takes is either moving the mission forward or holding it back. There is no such thing as a neutral act on a team, no crosswind that does not really count. The bad attitude, the corner quietly cut, the effort withheld, none of it is neutral. It is either wind at the team’s back or wind in its face. Realizing that changes how a person sees his own small choices, because it turns out none of them are actually small. But a team can only sort its tailwinds from its headwinds if it knows where it is trying to go.
Why does knowing your real purpose matter here?
Because a team only pulls together when it is clear on what it is actually for. F3 uses the NFL. The league as a whole exists to make money, and it collects the same number of wins every season no matter what, so winning cannot really be its purpose. But the individual teams, the players and coaches, have a different and sharper purpose: win, or lose their jobs. That clarity is what makes their every action count in one direction. A team that knows precisely what it is trying to accomplish can finally tell its tailwinds from its headwinds, and stop mistaking the second for something harmless.
F3 calls this Team Missionality, part of leaving right in the F3 Nation Q-Source, the field manual for virtuous leadership that F3 is built on. Read the full teaching: f3nation.com/missionality-team. F3 Denver is where men practice it. Find a workout.