A message from Sandy. It seems that it is easy for any organization to say, “we value teamwork.” However, saying it verses committing to the principles to grow it can be two different things. Here’s what Peter Drucker says about teamwork :   ” The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say “I.” And that’s not because they have trained themselves not to say “I.” They don’t think “I.” They think “we;” they think “team.” They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don’t sidestep it, but “we” gets the credit. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done.”

Author John Murphy talks about rules for high performance teams in his book Pulling Together. John’s number 1 rule…….Put the team first.

At the center of every high performance team is a common purpose–a mission that rises above and beyond each of the individual team members. To be successful, the team’s interests and needs come first. This requires a “what’s in it for we” challenging the usual “what’s in it for me.”

Effective team players understand that personal issues and personality differences are secondary to the teams demands. This does not mean abandoning your individuality, it means sharing your unique strengths and differences to move the team forward. It’s the “what’s in it for we”–this cooperation of collective capability is what empowers a team and generates synergy.

Cooperation means working together for mutual gain–sharing responsibility for success and failure and covering and supporting each other. It does not mean competing with one another at the team’s expense, withholding important information, or submitting to “group-think” by going along so as not to make waves. These are rule breakers that are direct contradictions to the “team first” mind-set.

High performance teams recognize that it takes a joint effort to synergize. It is with this spirit of communication effective teams learn to capitalize on individual strengths and offset individual weaknesses, using diversity as an advantage.

Effective teams also understand the importance of establishing cooperative systems, structures, incentives, and rewards. We get what we inspect, not what we expect. Do you have team job descriptions, team performance reviews, a team reward systems? Do you recognize people by pitting them against standards of excellence, or each other? What are you doing to cultivate a team-first, cooperative environment in this competitive world?

To embrace the team-first rule, make sure your team purpose and priorities are clear. What is your overall mission? What is your game plan? What is expected of each team member? How can each team member contribute more effectively? What constants will hold the team together? And ask yourself, are you putting the team first?