TEAM

There is no I in Team, but there is an “I” in win. Is that true, you need an “I” to win? I have played on a lot of teams. I have played on great teams and I have played on good teams. I have rarely played on bad teams. The reason I say rarely is because, most bad teams do not continue to exist. They disband, they break up, they move out, they resign, they take buy outs, they are re-assigned. We entrepreneurs like to say we vote with our feet. That is, we do not waste our time going to, being on, and hanging around things that are not working well. Why do bad teams happen? Why do they happen so often? Are the same things sabotaging the team time and time again?

The challenge of TEAM is a simple one. I have said before, simple is not easy. And simple in theory is just that, theory. It requires levels of patience, discipline, persistence, and ownership that few teams can obtain. Most bad teams I have been on rarely have had the reflection moment that ties the season, session, or the year up in a nice, tight bow. Most of those bad teams have not had the patience, discipline, persistence, or ownership to sit down and debrief what had gone wrong. That is why they disband so quickly. Very few agree with the breakdown and even fewer have the guts to figure out what they did wrong in the grand scheme of things. Patrick Lencioni nails it in his book, The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team. I look at his pyramid of building blocks and can picture every team that I have been on and where we were in his pyramid. The interesting part to me is ownership of my own actions. I think that is why I agree that there is no I in team….but there must be an I in WIN. Only the I stands for “What did I do?” What Can I do better? What can I do differently? And what can I do to help my team WIN?