Guest Blogger: Dee Cox – AECA VP of Membership
Teamwork is about “us” not “me”
When thinking about teamwork, Henry Ford’s quote, “Teamwork is coming together in the beginning, keeping together is a process and working together is success” describes my experience of building teamwork. I have observed successful and unsuccessful teamwork. The only way to understand the effectiveness of successful teamwork is by actual experience.
To bring individuals together is the easy part. People tend to want to help and work on a project but individual team members committing to the challenge is when teamwork starts to build the capacity and become an effective group. Working together to build capacity is a real challenge because of personalities, individual strengths and weaknesses, opinions and willingness to do whatever is needed. Team members must be risk takers, give up their personal control and share their talents. This is where the “us” comes to reality instead of “me.”
Finally, I would say that once the team is formed and members have committed to the task, there are significant factors in a successful team. Trust and communication among the members are vital, as well as, all team members will be accountable for their part of the work. Teamwork is about “us” not “me,” but there has to be an “I” before there can be an “us.” Think about it! It’s about choices of commitment.
Dee Cox is an educational consultant in Benton, Arkansas
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