THINK "TEAM" FOR SUCCESS
A team attitude is a "we" and "our" attitude instead of a "me"
and "my" attitude. When you become part of a team, you're not
giving up your individual goals. Whatever an individual can
achieve, a team can do bigger, faster, more effectively, and more
gloriously.
When you adopt a "we" attitude, the shared vision and goals of
the team become an extension of your own personal vision and
goals. You add your efforts to the team effort, thereby
empowering the team to reach its goals. At the same time, the
team effort magnifies and intensifies your efforts, empowering
you to reach levels of achievement you could never have imagined
on your own.
When a team becomes more in tune, more aligned, a synergy takes
place.
Factors of TEAM success:
- Be unselfish.
A valued team member is not out for himself or herself, but
wants the team to have success. It's about bringing everyone to
the same level of success, merging the talents of the entire
team over the ego of the individual.
- Find a role and fill it. Every person on a team has a vital
role, and only when all people focus their talents does the
team succeed. Each must carry out assigned duties and
responsibilities so the team can fulfill its mission. There
is no room on any team for separate agendas.
- Be a team of cheerleaders. Every team needs to be made of
cheerleaders and led by cheerleaders. Encourage one another
and build each other up. If someone does a poor job, give
encouragement and support. Let them know they are still part
of the team.
- Have fun. Even work should have its pleasures. Every
situation has its pressures and stresses that can create
tension and friction between you and your teammates. Fun
keeps you loose, keeps you from freezing up in the crises.
Keep your cool. Do something silly or spontaneous to break
the tension.
- Follow the leader. The leadership of the team has to
exercise authority; and the team has to respect and follow
the leader. Be mindful that the leaders and players are
partners.
- Be flexible. A person who is flexible is adaptable,
creative, coachable, and eager to try new ideas and new
approaches. Adapt to every new situation, condition, and
contingency.
- Think in sync. A team that thinks in sync, moves in sync.
You can maintain your unity while celebrating the diversity
and uniqueness of the individual members. When your team is
united, it can fight off outside negative influences. Every
player has to be on the same page. One team member whose
thinking is out of sync can destroy what the entire team is
working for.
Pat Williams is senior executive vice president of
the Orlando Magic. He helped found the team, then
guided it as general manager - from an expansion club
to one of the top teams in the NBA - in just a few
years. Before that he was general manager of the
Philadelphia 76ers for 12 years, and was also general
manager of the Atlanta Hawks and the Chicago Bulls.
He is the author of Go for the Magic.
From The Magic of Team Work: Proven Principles for
Building a Winning Team by Pat Williams, copyright
(c) 1997. Used by permission of Word Publishing,
Nashville, Tenn. All rights reserved.