“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Not everyone wants to change the world but most of us want to do something with our little tiny corner of it. An engaged workforce has dreams and a vivid purpose in which: they want to work on together, go forward together, collaborate together. Teamwork makes our common dream work. Such teams require both visionaries and the individual genius most of us have, for big thinking precedes great achievement.
Teamwork is so important that it is virtually impossible for us to reach the heights of our capabilities or change our little corner of the world – - achieve that dream we want – - without becoming very good at it. We need to build into our teams a feeling of oneness, of dependence on one another and a strength to be derived from unity and loyalty to each other and to our organization. Individual commitment to a group effort is what makes our team work, our company work, our community work, and indeed it is what allows for hope as we go about in this Internet connected global village we now find ourselves in.
We actively pursue becoming a member of a certain team and then we rely on the team, defer to it and sacrifice for it, because it is the team, not the individual, that is the ultimate champion who changes our world. At the same time the best teamwork comes from people who work independently towards that one common goal in unison. As team players we unite other people towards a shared destiny through sharing information and ideas with them, empowering them and developing trust in a very special growing bond. Ability alone is insufficient. Needed, also, are loyalty, sincerity, enthusiasm and team play. When a team outgrows individual performance and learns team confidence, excellence becomes a reality. Great things in business are never done by one person, they’re done by an excellent team of people.
Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results. So we need to keep away from people who belittle our ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great visionaries make us feel that we, too, can become great. Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.
Do we really understand that massive collaboration involving perhaps hundreds of people is what makes true innovation possible? The great thrill of this whole team experience is found in seeing humanity do what it’s best at, which ultimately is not competing but cooperating. Every team, every platform, every division, every component is there not for individual competitive profit or recognition, but rather so we can believe in each other and contribute to each other. In order to have our triumph, our team must have a feeling of unity; every player must put the team first ahead of personal glory.
Laszlo Bock, Sr VP of People Operations, at Google once said:
What we care about is, when faced with a problem and you’re a member of a team, do you, at the appropriate time, step in and lead. And just as critically, do you step back and stop leading, do you let someone else? It’s feeling the sense of responsibility, the sense of ownership, to step in, to try to solve any problem — and the humility to step back and embrace the better ideas of others. Your end goal, is what can we do together to problem-solve. I’ve contributed my piece, and then I step back.
Overcoming barriers to performance is how groups become teams. What is it that kills our ability to direct individual accomplishment toward organizational objectives? If teams are so important, why do they so often foul up? Why do we use teams so little or so ineffectively? And, do we want to use teams for everything?