How To Appreciate The Value Of Every Team Member

Once, an old man in a village planted a tiny turnip seed and said to it ‘Grow, little turnip seed, grow big, strong and mighty’.

Well, his words must have done the trick because the turnip grew and grew, got stronger and bigger, until it was absolutely enormous.

He returned at the harvest time and decided it was the right time to pull up the turnip.

He pulled and pulled, tugged and tugged, but all to no avail. The turnip couldn’t be moved.

So, he called his wife. ‘Wife!’ he called ‘Come and help me pull up this turnip!’ So his wife came, grabbed hold of her husband by the waist and both of them tried to pull up the turnip. But it wouldn’t budge.

So, the wife called the son ‘Son!’ she called ‘Come and help us pull up this turnip!’ So the son came, grabbed hold of his mother by the waist who was holding onto her husband by the waist and all of them tried to pull up the turnip. But it wouldn’t budge.

So, the son called the pub landlord. ‘Landlord!’ called the son ‘‘Come and help us pull up this turnip!’ So, the landlord came, grabbed hold of the son by the waist who was holding onto his mother by the waist, who was holding onto her husband by the waist, and all of them tried to pull up the turnip. But it wouldn’t budge.

So, the landlord called the farmer. ‘Farmer!’ called the landlord ‘‘Come and help us pull up this turnip!’ So, the farmer came, grabbed hold of the landlord by the waist, who had grabbed hold of the son by the waist who was holding onto his mother by the waist, who was holding onto her husband by the waist, and they all tried to pull up the turnip. But it wouldn’t budge.

So, the farmer called his dog. ‘Dog!’ called the farmer ‘‘Come and help us pull up this turnip!’ All the others said ‘The dog!? What good will he do? Nevertheless, the farmer insisted the dog should help.

So, the dog came, grabbed hold of the farmer’s coat, who had grabbed hold of the landlord by the waist, who had grabbed hold of the son by the waist who was holding onto his mother by the waist, who was holding onto her husband by the waist, and they all tried to pull up the turnip.

And… ‘whoosh!’ The turnip came out of the ground! And so that night they all enjoyed a delicious meal of turnip, with the dog sat at the head of the table!

The moral is, of course, that sometimes we underestimate the effect that one of our team can have on results when we run projects. It’s possible that a team member could be shy or not quick in coming forward to volunteer their efforts.

Nevertheless, we should not undervalue them or disregard their efforts in helping the team to succeed. Everyone has their strengths, even though they’re not always out in the open. If we are able to utilise the strengths of a team member who is often quiet, it will build their confidence, making them feel as if their contribution is worthwhile and can often be the start of a bigger journey that we hadn’t expected to carry out.

Look out for team members who are quiet or not the first to come forward. If we consider their comments and ideas, we may be pleasantly surprised to see their contribution could be the very one that takes a project forward to success.