What Teamwork is All About
We often misinterpreted the value of the
word “teamwork” by failing to apply it properly. We easily point and blame someone when we are
mistaken. What could be the possible reason
behind this? It is about
mind-setting. A person should understand
what “teamwork” is.
In an office setting, staff may get
pressured knowing that the connecting department didn’t accomplish yet their
duties and responsibilities for the project.
She couldn’t move a step forward to accomplish her own duties and responsibilities
because of the delays from the other department. This is where “teamwork” comes in.
Teamwork is a two-word connected with each
other. One is the word “team” and the other is “work.”
If you’re working by yourself from start to finish—it is “work”. If you’re working with somebody—it is
“teamwork”. A team is a group who
perform a job that was entrusted. They
have the same goal and mission to accomplish.
They have the same mindset; shared responsibilities, and had a common
goal to achieved. The failure of a
department could not be the fault of the other department. If a project fails, the team fails. Pointing others to blame is not the practice
inside the arena of teamwork.
Team Leader
If you’re called to be a team leader, you
possessed what your team members had.
The team has the same goal, objective and mission to be
accomplished. As I have mentioned, they
should have the same mindset. A team
leader often fails to value the “leadership” of a team. A team leader is not always considered as an
auto-leadership in a group or an organization.
There is no built-in leadership if you are a team leader. It’s all started in the heart of a chosen
team leader. If a team leader does not
have the right leadership traits towards his members, the relationship will
fail abruptly whether you like it or not.
A team leader should possess the following traits: Unselfishness, Responsible, Accountable and a Supportive heart to his
team.
Unselfishness
This is true, a team leader’s mind should
always pronounce “We” instead of “I”.
He should see to it that as a leader, he is the one who will carry his
group or members into success. If
successful, the whole team is successful and not the leader. There is no isolation inside a team’s
circle. Both produce the same effort to
achieve the goal that they are setting.
Based on my experience in a corporate setting, some team leaders are
afraid to be tagged as the failure. With
this, they had the tendency to show to the management that she did her best while
her group members were the one who did the mistake. She used to clean her hands while her group
members suffer from the shame of failure.
This is so sad to hear, and that is selfishness. In other words, selfishness inside a team is a
betrayal. It is a harsh word to hear,
isn’t it?
Responsible
A team leader is responsible for his group
members. Plans and goal setting should
be shared within the group. He is open
to suggestions among his members and then incorporates the best plan that they
have discussed. A responsible team leader
should be transparent at all time.
Unclear instructions may affect the plans and goals which will
eventually lead to misunderstanding and failure of a plan. He should see to it that the plan was
properly executed with his supervision.
He should not leave it to his members and say “good luck” to the
job. This is how some of the team leaders
often fail to handle his group well due to the laxity of his job
responsibilities. Responsibility is hard
work with keen supervision.
Accountability
Have you heard someone uttered this
statement? “I’m the one to blame for what happens with our group”. It takes the courage to admit that you are
accountable to your group. A team leader
is not only responsible but accountable to his group members. If his group members did something wrong, he
should not be quick to point the finger at his group members instead he should
redirect the pointing to himself. This
is the true team leader.
In my experience, the word “accountability”
is a terrifying word among the team leaders.
If a team leader does not have the courage to be held accountable to his
group, better not to become a team leader.
Accountability is a difficult task than responsibility. Actions that were committed to the entire
group fall on the team leader as the accountable person. So, do you want to be a team leader?
Supportive
Heart
A team leader that doesn’t have the heart
to support his team is a leader who is selfish.
He had the tendency to protect himself rather than protecting his
team. A team’s failure could be the
cause of their team leader with a lack of support from his members. He always wanted to elevate himself as the team
leader and love the support of his team members just for himself rather than he
should initially support his team members.
This situation could always happen in a team. Moreover, he doesn’t care about his member’s
suggestion and comments, he loved to be heard and followed. This kind of leadership often started with
jealousy and hatred among the members.
They take it personally rather than taking it professionally. Personal often includes emotion and
involvement of personal matters outside the job responsibilities while
professionalism focuses on the work that should be done. This is why some team
leaders failed to determine what should be done to accomplish the goal for the
team.
Teamwork is the best-organized group to achieve a
great and better result. There are three
benefits of teamwork: Exchange of ideas, Flexibility, and Accuracy. It is known as “synergy”. A combined effort of talents and skills that
contribute to a greater effect—to achieve a good result.
Exchange of Ideas
In a team, the exchange of ideas is the contribution
of ideas within a group to achieve the best result. The suggestion of a team leader may not be
enough. There are times that a team
leader may not foresee what is going to transpire though suffer the
consequences in the end. Since human is
not perfect being, there should be one to assist. In Christianity, God created a helper, a
woman. There is a purpose why man needs
a helper.
I firmly believe in the saying that “no man is an island.” Try to think a rock music band as an example, there is the keyboard, electric bass guitar, electric guitar, and drums. Now, if we remove one musical instrument from the band, the music sound is awful to hear. The same thing applies with the vocals or choir male singers, we have tenors, baritone, and bass. We don’t want to hear a full tenor choir without bass nor bass choir without a tenor. Each of them is relevant to the group in creating a harmony of music.
Flexibility
If the team has exchanges of ideas, then flexibility must
follow. This is interconnected to create
a better result in a team. The plan of
the team could be paralyzed if they are not flexible. Flexibility is the key to success in a team;
this allows the group to stretch their efforts without sacrificing the plan of
a team. Try to think of a sport like basketball. Did you see how a basketball
player did some tactics to block the last ball from the opponent by stealing
and throws the last ball in the ring to win the game? This is how flexibility works, you became
unbeatable.
Accuracy
Accuracy is next to flexibility whether you like it or
not. If you have the plan, your team did
some exchanging of ideas that were incorporated into the plan so your team has
the flexibility to work it out—against all odds. Now, the plan will become smooth and
accurate. It is about knowing what
you’re doing in the first place. If we
want things to happen at once, you need the right plan first. But how will you
know if the plan was right? You’ll go back to the cycle, the exchange of
ideas. You assess the ideas, study and
analyze the possibilities, pros, and cons, etc..
Then you’ll come up with a good plan for the team. Some team leaders were so passionate about the accuracy
but overlooked some of the details that haven’t studied nor considered. They often felt disappointed with the result
and tend to blame others if the plan doesn’t work.
There’s a saying in the Bible and by C.S. Lewis.
“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their work. And if one has a fall, the other will give him a hand; but unhappy is the man who is by himself, because he has no helper.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (BBE)
“Two heads are better than one, not because either is infallible, but
because they are unlikely to go wrong in the same direction” by C.S. Lewis
One physical example that I demonstrated with my kid about teamwork is a single stick. I bend the stick with my two hands by putting the pressure in the center, and it broke. Then I get 6 sticks holding it with my left and right hand trying to bend it. Surprisingly, it can’t be bend. A single stick has no helper. It is very weak. The five sticks that combined with the single stick become stronger and hard to break. That’s the power of teamwork.
Photo featured credited to Rebrand Cities