Teamwork is a funny thing. So many times in my life, I have heard phrases like “We need to work as a team,” or “Teamwork makes the dream work.” After giving it some thought, I am not sure I completely buy into that.
I think that teamwork is successful when the team’s vision and goals are in alignment. My son Spencer and I have a few days left on our marathon camping trip throughout the upper western part of the United States and each night we stay at a KOA (Kampground Of America).
One we stayed at in Wyoming only had about twenty sites occupied and it appeared that there were just a few people running the operation. Others like at Mt. Rushmore and our location as I write this in West Yellowstone, are much larger and require a much larger staff to keep things running smoothly.
I have to give KOA credit. Each location, although vastly different from each other in age and amenities, has been run very smoothly. I believe this is because the “teams” share a common interest … customer service.
My son and I work as a team as well. He cooks and I clean (this way I can eat good food) and we each take on different duties in unloading, setting up, breaking down and loading back up at each location. We both work from our strengths and have the common goal to enjoy our time together camping.
I was listening to an interview of a professional baseball player on the radio recently and found it very interesting when he said; “the best team I ever played on was made up of guys who didn’t do anything with each other outside of the game and really didn’t even like each other. So why were they successful? They were all after a common goal – to win.
I really had to think about that for a while, but I get it. To be a team, you don’t need to be friends. You don’t probably even need to be friendly, but you do need to be working collectively toward the same goals.
I think you would agree that we are all part of some type of team. And chances are, that you don’t really care for someone on your team. But ask yourself this; “Is that person making the team better or worse? If the answer is better, then maybe it’s worth investing a little bit of yourself in that person and building the relationship.
Yes, teams that do not get along can succeed. But wouldn’t be a whole lot better if you had fun doing it!
So does teamwork make the dream work? Only you can answer that based on the team(s) you are part of. Maybe you need to ask yourself if you are making the team better or not.
I think I have a new perspective on teamwork now. So I have a really interesting question for you today. “What have you done to make the other people on your team successful?”
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Barry Smith 7/12/13 photo by author © Building What Matters 2013
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I agree totally that team members need to be aligned in their goals (or more to the point, first their core-values, then in the goals of the team as a whole.) I’ve found the most successful and ‘winning’ teams, are those where all members respect each others unique gifts to the whole, where there is that basic alignment, along with the unique and valuable offerings of each team member. It’s the role of the Mentor, to model the core-values and the respecting and honoring of each team members’ unique gifts – and this will make each member more successful as an individual and the team more successful as a whole.
I kind of disagree about not having to like each other. I think when you know, respect and trust each other, and you’re working together toward common goals, it just follows that you’ll like each other, too – and that’s when the most success happens.
I just love to watch the San Francisco Giants baseball team win a game. After the win, the team really seems to “like” each other a lot! They jump up and down like little boys , and hug each other(pure joy!). Even when they don’t win, they always seem to support each other, and it’s my impression that they are friends, as well as team members.
Thanks Susan and I love your thoughts on respect. I took my boys to a Giants game a few years ago and would agree that they are a “team”
Great post Barry. Since I started working on the quality of my leadership, I do the following intentionally to help team work:
~Identify, define and document the strengths of all team members
~Identify, define and document their personality types/tendencies
~Clearly define our vision, mission, goals/objectives AND how to grow our sphere of influence
~Set the expectation for behaviors that build trust and safety
~Define the role we all play in conflict and how to minimize it by using our strengths
~Establish an honoring feedback process that starts with me getting feedback on the quality of my leadership.
Hope you and your son are having a magnificent camping experience!
Al
Great addition to the conversation Al. I will add your framework to my resource library. Thanks for the great and powerful contribution!
Barry, great question. To help my team members succeed…
– I believe in them
– I TELL them that I believe in them
– I express appreciation often
– I care about them
– I love them
– I ask about their life, dreams, hopes, and goals
– I encourage them
– I have difficult conversations with them when neccessary
– I nudge them to better performance
– I lead by example
– I show that I am willing to just as hard or harder than they
– I am consistent
I’d love to go on a trip with you sometime. We’d have to bring your son along again to do the cooking though. Think about a Lead With Giants adventure trip. Hmmm.
Adding yours as well Dan. You have all added great value with your thoughts. I look forward to meeting up with you soon!