How to work and win together
John C. Maxwell once said that “teamwork makes the dream work”. This statement is absolutely true about life. No dream, aspiration or goal can become a reality in its full sense without the concerted effort of a team of committed individuals. Simply put, a team can be a unit working hand-in-hand towards a common objective.
The truth is, you are a member of a team wherever you find yourself. Whether in your family or workplace. Even though you run a private business, you are still a part of a team, a bigger eco-system of players in that industry you operate. So you cannot avoid working with others.
You know, I find time to watch movies and I learn a lot from them. One of my favorites is The Avengers series.
The Avengers are arguably the world’s favorite superhero team. A group of superheroes who, despite their differences, work together towards a common purpose, which is usually to save the world from powerful villains. Though that’s fiction, the reality is that it took a team of highly competent and committed individuals; producers, directors, animators, actors, sound engineers and many more, who pulled together their expertise and resources to create such blockbuster movies that have topped charts worldwide. The series comprising 23 movies to date is the highest-grossing film franchise of all time with a total earning of over $22.5 billion at the global box office. This includes Avengers: Endgame, the highest-grossing film of all time.
You see, success is never achieved in isolation. You cannot do anything of significance in life without a strong team behind you. If you want to go far in your career and life, you must appreciate the importance of teamwork and be a good team player.
I’ll share with you three critical things you must do to be an effective team player:
- Build strong relationships. The power of great relationships cannot be overemphasized. You have to be deliberate about it. At work, you need to make the effort to communicate effectively and reach out to other team members. You must show empathy, listen to them and build trust and loyalty. That way the team bonds and attains great feats together. Michael Jordan once said; “Talent wins games but teamwork and intelligence win championships”. “We” usually achieves more than “Me”.
- Play your role. Everybody in a team has a role to play. You have to know your role and play your part effectively for the team to succeed. The reason a football team has four divisions; goalkeeper, defenders, midfielders and forwards is because each person in each subdivision has a task to perform. The job of a forward is to score goals (as many times as possible per game) and not to keep them out of the net, that’s the job of a goalkeeper. Knowing where you fit in and doing your part is one way to be a value-adding team member. You must focus on your role and do so effectively.
- Do the ‘extra’: What do I mean by that? Don’t limit your contributions to your role description, sometimes the team may need you to do much more. The readiness to do the extra makes you a good team player. It was Jimmy Johnson who said that the difference between the ordinary and the extraordinary is that little extra. Imagine you are a footballer, a defender, your primary job is to stop your opponents’ attempts to score goals. The extra is to be a goal-scoring defender. Don’t limit yourself, at work, support your colleagues, help out a business partner. At the end of the day, the failure of one is our collective failure and the success of the whole is also our individual successes.
Friend, as you go about your personal and professional activities, do not forget to be an outstanding team member.
Remember, you have only one life to live, Make It Count!
