Developing Cohesiveness Within A Team

Developing Cohesiveness Within A Team

Belinda @ Kids Matter

If your first thought upon seeing the word TEAM is “ugh”… you might not be a team player. Worse yet… if you cringe upon seeing the word TEAM you definitely are not a team player. What is it about some folks that make them hate team participation events? Is it a personality issue? Is it a physical limitation? What about a mental challenge? Or… just maybe, it is all three or none at all. Typically the word TEAM is a memory trigger. Our past experiences with teams leave us for the most part… ambiguous. We tiptoe around the outskirts of the team while never wanting to be right in the midst of participation.  While it’s true there is no “I” in TEAM, there are many other thoughts that can be extracted from the acronym. And I say… Totally Excel Among Many!! You get out of a team what you put in.

If you spend your life walking the outskirts of team participation then you miss out on opportunities to learn, grow, and contribute. You are cheating yourself. You are cheating your team. You will never experience the win as a team but you will surely experience the loss as a team. Team spirit drives the team to perform at each individual’s greatest for the benefit of the whole. Totally Excel Among Many!!

Push forward, strive for success, light a fire under it, all statements of encouragement. If we remain stagnant in a group the end result is that we are a detriment to the group, we pull the group down, and we are a liability instead of an asset. Your lack of participation has a rippling effect throughout the team. Have you ever noticed it is much harder to push a rock up a hill than roll one down? The momentum of the rolling rock builds and builds as it tumbles end over end down the hill, until it is stopped by an outside force. That is the same momentum of which teams should strive. Instead of pushing that non-participant up the hill and exhausting team resources, each member should eagerly race to the top of the hill and lunge forward in the challenge to the race for the bottom of the hill.

Team members should be supportive and encouraging of all team members. Each member must be open and accepting of all members’ knowledge and experience in the task at hand. No group should be totally in agreement at all times. Without the occasional disagreement the team does not grow. It’s asking how and why that motivates creativity and success. Being the “yes man” of the team is actually very similar to being a non-participant. Is “yes” the best you can offer the team? If “yes” then why? What is your experience or research to back up that response? Be a contributing member of the group!

Maybe the overall reward or outcome of the group participation isn’t something you are interested. You really don’t care one way or the other the outcome of the challenge. Reality check… have you not learned yet there is no “I” in team? Once you have been made a part of a team it really doesn’t matter what your personal feelings are, you have a team to consider now. It is your responsibility to grab that baton, as it quickly passes to you, and exert every effort to fulfill your part of the team’s participation. Whether you chose the team, the team chose you, or you were assigned the team… it is irrelevant. You are a part of something that has a purpose and an outcome. You must strive to develop cohesiveness within your team just as every other member should be participating. Totally Excel Among Many! A team is only as strong as its weakest link. Don’t be that weak link simply because you don’t want to participate in a group activity. Be a contributing member who shares expertise and learns from the experience of other team members. Go TEAM! Totally Excel Among Many!!