Everybody talks about the value of being a team. My question isn’t whether they have a team or not, but rather what the level of that team is. People participating together for a particular purpose are a team. But, is that team striving for the highest level of excellence? Are they actually practicing to be at the highest level, i.e. the championship, or are they just trying to get through it?

Every year the best professional golfers in the USA compete against the best players in the world. Since golf is such an individual effort, is it really important that they are the best team? I propose that it is. Individual sport or not, something happens when talented people get together for a common purpose. The shift is in going from “how am I doing” to “how are we doing?”

The next step is asking your teammate, “How are you doing?”

We can be inspired by a teammate’s individual effort such that it impacts our own. We want to know we have the backup of our teammates when we step on the course. Given we don’t know what will happen when we tee it up in any endeavor, we are thrown into a reaction of wanting to be sure we are safe and that we have our pals in the mix with us.

In the business world, organizations are continually talking about their team with little or no idea of how to actually BE a team. They even occasionally do some work on the team concept. What is missing is what any coach knows is necessary–PRACTICE. Bobby Knight, the sometimes infamous and forever Hall of Famous basketball coach was once quoted as saying “Everybody wants to be a champion, no one wants to practice.”

More often than not, business organizations do a little work and then go back to doing what they usually do. They say, “Let me do my job,” which is impossible to do without others. Could it be that we don’t really know what our job is?

Imagine if everyone came to work looking to see if there was anything they could do to support their colleagues. What if we weren’t so worried about ourselves that we could get interested in the success of the enterprise that could take care of everyone?
There are companies who play the game that way, but they are few and far between.

Remember, championship teams are created and thrive because they practice. The other key element they have is coaching excellence.

The most influential team in any organization is the management team. They need to manage, yes, but that’s only one part of what they do. They have to create an environment for growth and development (learning) to take place. They coach and lead. Unfortunately, for the most part they are not really trained to coach. Coaches and leaders who are more interested in their careers than their team are short-changing the players who are going to do the heavy lifting.

So, back to those individual sports teams. When they understand their coach loves them, they are standing on solid ground on which to perform. They are clear their teammates are in the game with them. NO ONE MAKES IT ALONE. That’s the power of team.