Together Everyone Achieves More—that is the acronym for TEAM. A team is a group that has to work together to accomplish a shared vision and or goal. A team is not a group of individual contributors working under the same umbrella for the same company, division, or department. That is a huge difference.

We see this in sports. Yes, there are individual stars on the teams. However, they can’t win the game alone. For example, in football, there can be a star quarterback. But if the receiver fails to run the route the way the play was drawn up, the pass is incomplete or, worse, intercepted—not a good outcome for the team. I love the quote from Hall of Fame basketball great Earvin “Magic” Johnson, “Ask not what your teammates can do for you. Ask what you can do for your teammates?” A paraphrase of President John Kennedy’s speech.

Team building starts with the leader. The leader must be crystal clear on the vision. It is important for the vision to be shared. There is no such thing as one team member winning—”killing it,” but the team is losing. The leader must continually reinforce, “We are in this together.”

Simply stated, there are no individual victories or personal losses. We WIN and LOSE —TOGETHER.

Make Today Your Masterpiece,