Today, Staff Sgt. Sal Giunta of the Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade will receive our country’s highest military recognition for heroism in battle.  Staff Sgt. Giunta will be the first living soldier since the Vietnam War to receive the Medal of Honor.  Three years ago in one of the deadliest valleys of Afghanistan, his unit was ambushed by Taliban forces and were taking on heavy fire.  When he saw that one of his fellow soldiers was shot and being dragged away by Taliban forces, he ran straight into enemy fire to rescue him.

In a recent 60 Minutes interview, he struggled to come to terms with receiving this prestigious award.  It turns out the soldier he rescued was one of his is closest friends, Sgt. Joshua Brennan.  Although rescued from the hands of the Taliban that night, Sgt. Brennan didn’t survive the attack.  And it’s the pain of loss that’s felt in the reality of losing a fellow soldier that makes Giunta uncomfortable with receiving an individual recognition for “doing what anyone would’ve done”.

The bond created between the young men and women who’ve gone away to war is incredible.  And I suppose it’s not that surprising when you know that everyday could be your last.

Clearly nothing we do at work is as critical as the life and death situations that our nation’s military face every day.  But how can you help create unity and teamwork within your team?

I tend to think that teamwork can only exist when the members of a team are able to get along with one another.  No, that doesn’t mean they have to be best friends or even like each other.  More than anything, ‘getting along’ means respecting one another.  And where does respect come from?  I’d imagine every one of us has different criteria for why we respect someone.  But I’d argue that respect for a teammate is a combination of integrity, ability, reliability, and work ethic.

In other words, we respect people who we can trust to ‘do the right thing’, who are good at what they do, who we can count on to do it, and who work hard doing it.

When someone on your team is not trustworthy, not good at their job, not showing up, or not working hard; your team and its cohesiveness will certainly suffer.  You see, everybody likes working with people they can count on.

Unfortunately, managers cannot create or command teamwork.  They cannot force employees to respect each other or work as a team.  However, managers can (and should) influence the creation of teamwork by recognizing team members who meet your team’s expectations and removing those who don’t.  Although some employees show up and ‘punch the clock’, these team members will not earn the respect of the rest of their team.  Allowing these employees to remain on the team without pulling their weight will stifle any attempt to create a unified team of winners who truly care about what they do.

Ultimately, team conflicts begin when someone can’t be trusted to do their job.  And it’s your job as a manager to make sure everyone on the team is consistently performing theirs.

You can learn more about the heroics and humility of today’s Medal of Honor recipient Staff Sgt. Sal Giunta, by clicking here.

Remember the famous sign on President Truman’s desk, The Buck Stops Here?  Regardless of whether you’re a politician who was voted out of office last week or a head football coach who lost his job yesterday; if you’re a leader, you probably already know that the buck stops with you.

As an employer or manager, you’re accountable to everyone who depends on the success and viability of your dairy… your management team, your employees, your customers, your vendors, your lenders, your neighbors, and last but certainly not least, yourself and your family.

So does that mean you’re the only one at your company who should be held accountable for their decisions and actions?  Of course not.  Despite being the main person in charge, you still need to expect every person on your team to be accountable for themselves and the work that they do.

Unfortunately, it seems that some employees believe that accountability primarily means ‘showing up on time’.  Think back to conversations you’ve had in the past with employees regarding raises.  Have you ever had employees argue that they deserved more money simply because they “never miss work”?  And yes, I agree sometimes that’s a good place to start.  But how did employees start believing that perfect attendance was the only thing they needed to earn more money?  Sure, some employees probably already believed that from the start.  But at some point, I’d bet this mentality was reinforced by bosses who gave in to the ‘as-long-as-you-show-up argument’.  And since that’s all that some managers expected from their employees, that’s all that these managers got!

So how do you create a sense of accountability and spread it across the rest of your team?

I believe accountability starts at the same place that the buck stops, at the top.  You set the tone for what’s expected of each person on your team.  By setting high standards for your employees and providing them with the necessary tools, training, and support to achieve this level of performance, your team will truly know what’s expected of them every day.  By utilizing job descriptions and written protocols to communicate and evaluate the work that each person does, you’ll be able to hold everyone accountable for their personal performance and overall contribution.  And now, instead of rewarding employees for merely ‘showing up’, you’ll be recognizing them for how well they actually do their job.

Whether it’s a politician and his constituents, a football coach and the team’s owner, or a manager and his employees; we all answer to somebody.  The success of your company is counting on your team, and your team is counting on you.