I am fortunate enough to coach soccer at a local high school. Soccer was my first passion and now I get to share it with some pretty awesome high schoolers. This year, my team is comprised of great guys but we are infected with the finger pointing disease. The team is quick to point fingers at everyone else for the mistakes that they make but rarely do they point the finger at themselves.
This happens all the time in community and can destroy it if left alone. In communities and teams finger pointing:
- Causes internal division
- Promotes negative competition (fighting)
- Creates tension which inhibits the community’s effectiveness
- Brews disinterest within community members
Next time before pointing the finger at someone else in your community maybe you should point it at yourself. It turns out when we do that we are more primed to be good community members. Pointing the finger at ourselves in a productive way we:
- Promote productive change
- Encourage others to excel
- Allow others to work in an atmosphere of freedom and growth
- Create an inviting environment for others to join
Maybe you, much like my team, need to have a conversation about how we handle mistakes. Your time is too valuable and important to waste on finger pointing when you could be focusing on whatever makes your community great. As Vincent van Gogh put it, “It is better to be high-spirited even though one makes more mistakes, than to be narrow-minded and all too prudent. “
As We Go 