How often do we hear the words ‘There’s no I in team” or even say them ourselves? We often like to use these words to encourage person/persons to focus less on themselves and more on the collective effort and outcome.
This is indeed noble and I believe that it is one of the concepts that will be critical to us surviving the economic malaise that currently exists. However, have you ever noticed that companies usually say that teamwork is critical and extremely important and then go on to reward those persons who are the exact opposite? How many persons can you think of who are in management positions who are the exact opposite of team focus? Be honest, as soon as you started to read this article, at least one person that you know came to mind.
What then makes us behave contrary to what we view to be important? I believe that it’s a combination of a number of factors:
Socialisation: From the moment that we enter into the formal education system, we are taught to compete. We compete for the best daycares, schools, colleges/universities, partners, kids, houses, cars etc. It always seem to be a case where comparing oneself to some standard (real or imaginary), and coming out on top, is the only way for some persons to feel a sense of accomplishment.
Economics: Unlimited wants, limited resources. Unfortunately, we often view those who ‘have’ as though they are superior to those who ‘have not’. What I find amazing is that we seldom seem to care how these persons ‘achieved’.
Values: What behaviours do we admire? Often times we look at leaders who are abrasive and domineering and believe that these are persons to be emulated. We look at those persons whose motto seems to be ‘excel at any cost’ and yearn to be like them. It doesn’t matter that they may have the personality of cardboard. They get the job done and that’s all that matters.
Our definition of success, determines the value that we place on teamwork. The belief that people are expendable will result in us merely paying lip service to this. It will lead to environments where toxic people are promoted and rewarded. These people usually come to the conclusion that they are succeeding because of their behaviour as opposed to in spite of it.
However, if we truly believe that people are valuable, and that the methods used are just as important as the goals, we would rate teamwork very high on the list of required attributes and competencies that are absolutely required and reward and promote our employees accordingly.