It all starts at the top
The most important element in any human endeavor is the leadership. Effective leaders can accomplish the impossible with a mediocre crew, while even the highest performance team of top-notch professionals can become quickly incapacitated with ineffective leadership.

Leadership expert Warren Bennis explains the distinction between management and leadership in this way: "Managers do things right. Leaders do the right thing." Phil Mendes, President and CEO of Echo Technology Group, has defined the primary function of our organization as "... helping people do the right things right." Right at the top of that list of right things to do is to put the people issues before the process and product issues, and the number one people issue is effective leadership. Effective leadership can provide both the vision and the drive to implement all of the other elements necessary for success. Without it, even if all of the other elements of success are present, the actual attainment of success is still a questionable proposition.

Support your contributors; release your burdens
One of the characteristics of effective leaders is their utilization of their human assets. Effective leaders can rapidly assess the strengths and weaknesses of every individual on their team. They understand both the unique value and the vast differences between different types of people, such as administrators and fire fighters. They know the perfect place for an administrator, who values structure, tradition, order, and organization. They also know that this same place is definitely not the place for a firefighter, who has complete disregard for rules and regulations, which makes that type of individual so perfect for handling a crisis situation in which the rules no longer apply. Everyone has something to contribute, and the effective leader knows how to mobilize the assets at his or her disposal to extract the biggest possible contribution from each.

Unfortunately, even though every individual has the capacity to contribute, not everyone has the desire to contribute. Although there are a number of ways to classify individuals related to their preferences, perspectives, strengths, and weaknesses, I believe that the most important classification of all is whether a person is a contributor or a burden. Although all too often overlooked, it is one of the easiest distinctions to make; all that you have to do is listen to a person's language or reaction to events.

When a contributor encounters a problem or a difficulty, the first thought that comes to mind is "How can I help?" When a burden encounters that same problem or difficulty, the chief concern on that person's mind is "How can I escape having to help?" Similarly, when a contributor surveys the common pool of resources, the first question that comes to mind is, "What can I put in?" while the burden wonders, "What can I take out?" A contributor wants to know where their unique skills will provide the most value to the team; the burden wants to know which of the assignments being passed out will result in the least demand on their time and effort.