What Kind Of Change Maker Are You? The Play Maker
Oct 28, 2021
This is the first in a mini-series of blogs asking the question, "What kind of Change Maker are you?"
It's a really important question. Knowing your value, knowing the contribution that you can make to a team is really important. If you are clear on these questions, you can make the biggest impact possible when you join a team. If you know how you can make your best contribution you can get started straight away, there's no hesitation.
In short, knowing what type of change maker you are can make a big difference to your career as it progresses.
The Play Maker
Let's get started with the Play Maker. It's a really descriptive term. You can imagine in a sporting sense, the Play Maker is at the heart of the action looking over everything that's going on. They are able to orchestrate the activity.
In fact, if it was an orchestra the Play Maker is the conductor, bringing people in at the
right moment, thinking about the overall piece and working out how it all comes together.
The Play Maker is the person that can make it happen. They make change happen through people and they're able to do that because they've got a great idea of how the people and processes work most effectively together. So, they can look at a problem and see which person is going to make the biggest impact.
Value to Others
In terms of their value to others it's about teams, it's about teaming people most effectively. Sports analogies are really obvious here. We all know the stories of the coach who knows how to work with every member of their team. The one who knows who needs an arm put around them and who needs a kick up the backside to make them work effectively. The ethic they will
bring into that team is everybody's working together for the benefit of everyone else. Collaboration is 100 what a Play Maker is all about.
As a result, they're really good at helping teams overcome their issues. They're able to smooth things over and help people understand the trivial things as well as the vital things. In essence, what the Play Maker does is put people into context and from a change perspective that's vital.
The Play Maker Skillset
As indicated already, first and foremost it's all about teaming for the Play Maker. They know how to bring groups of people together and help them function as a team.
They're also a good coach. They've picked up the skills of a coach either professionally or just through their own experience. They've learned how to get the best out of people.
Finally, another key Play Maker skill is facilitation. If think about it, what a facilitator does is sits down with a group of people and organises the activity in such a way that they deliver on time, on budget and every time. So, teaming coaching and facilitating - that's what you want a Play Maker for.
Recognising the Play Maker
So how do you know if you're a Play Maker or how can you recognize a Play Maker when you encounter one? You'll be able to recognize them by their values and behaviours. When someone proposes that we need to get something done the playmaker's first thought and their first intention is; "Who's going to be involved? How do we get the right people in place at the right time?"
They're less concerned about the content. They'll be thinking about that in the background, but their first thought is; "Who are the best people to get involved right now?"
They have that collaborative mindset all the time.
They're also incredibly emotionally intelligent. It's a tough job getting people to work together. Bringing individuals together, (Stars maybe) and getting them to perform as a unit is no small task - ask any national sporting coach.
Don't Make Me Angry
The emotional intelligence of the Play Maker ensures they are always one step ahead, ensuring that the barriers between people are reduced, minimized and eliminated altogether. Because what the Play Maker does is protect everybody in their environment.
Just about the only time you'll see a Play Maker upset is when someone has upset the other people in the team. The Play Maker wants everybody to get on because they value harmony.
The Play Maker will leap to the defence of the people around them. They'll be that angry captain you see in the middle of the tussle. They'll be the person who gets really upset if you've hurt the people around them because their intention is to maximize the contribution and the growth and the development of everyone.
Is This You?
Is that you? Are you that Play Maker or do you have a Play Maker in your team?
Whichever way round it is, you now know the vital contribution that a Play Maker makes to your team. Here's this week's video if you want to listen to the key messages again.
Next up in this series will be the Implementer. If you'd like to know when that appears, be sure to Subscribe to my weekly newsletter.
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