Teamwork is a game changer when it comes to being successful. You have to have support from your peers in whatever group you are trying win over. For me, this group of people varies. In my life, I have had so many opportunities to be a part of team, lead a team, or cheer on a team.
Teamwork is such an essential part of daily living! We all need to know how to play along and be accepting that we are part of a team in some way, shape or form. I thrive on teamwork; I want to be a part of the mix whenever and however I can. In my eyes, no role is too small. Moreover, every role plays a big part.
Checklist: Improve Workplace Team Effectiveness by Increasing Engagement
I used to hate baseball, or let’s just say I lost a love for it. The Kansas City Royals were in a slump for a long time and I really just didn’t like watching the game, until I became a mom with a son who has discovered his love of baseball. Now, our weekends and weeknights are filled with baseball games, baseball practice or watching baseball on television. The Kansas City Royals have really opened a sedge way for our family to appreciate the game. Additionally, the game is teaching my son the lesson of teamwork.
For example, let’s take my son’s baseball team. This is a great team with great kids. At the beginning, they started the season out strong and were undefeated for their first 3 games. Now that they have lost a couple, you really see the camaraderie and the banter between all of them. The teams behavior seems to be straight out of the movie Sandlot. They back each other up, encourage each other when they need it and have really come together as a team. I love watching these boys playing from scratch as a team and then by the third or fourth game they start to click and know what to watch for and how to play with their teammates. There is nothing greater than seeing a group of kids learning the game and finding their own with it.
Our house is full of sports. My husband, Scott, is a PE teacher at a local middle school and is the Assistant Varsity Basketball coach of the high school. From the time I met Scott, he was involved in coaching either football or basketball or at times both sports. Being married to a coach is another example of team work.
I joke that come November, I become a basketball widow. Essentially I give up my husband, and our son, Sam gives up his dad for a good five months. So our marriage relies heavily on teamwork and balancing out what is needed and what needs to be done. Usually I am able to cover all of this, but due to work or other obligations, I rely on others to take care of Sam. Sometimes Scott is able to take Sam with him to practice or games – it’s a careful balancing act that takes a lot of teamwork in our marriage. Then, the tables turn, and I get busy with my line of work as an office manager. If our marriage doesn’t have teamwork and compromise, we wouldn’t have a solid marriage or a stable environment for our son.
Professionally, I am a big advocate of teamwork in all ranks of business. Leaders depend on their team leaders to build the business. Team leaders depend on their teams to do their part and meet quotas. Each team member depends on each other to come together as a team and help build each other up. When one of those links fail, we all fail in some retrospect. As an office manager, I’m not selling our product, but I am part of the team.
How? I keep morale up by providing lunches, or getting incentives to help motivate the sales teams. During our peak season, I am responsible for keeping a ton of food coming in to feed the teams’ lunch and/or dinner. I rely heavily on others to catch the caterer on nights that collide with basketball. During this peak season we often have agents working, so I make sure they have breakfast and often times lunch as well. This is where my son is a team player as most times he comes with me to assist me with set up or just to be a good sport.
As a leader, you have to know when your team needs you. You cannot be an absent leader and expect your team to know what you want and how you want it. You might get an end result that doesn’t meet your standards. Lead by example and know you have a team who wants to work with you, not for you. Guide the team to your end result you wish to have. Team playing – in any format, as you can see, is essential in everyday life. We can embrace it and be successful or let the chips fall where they may. Just remember, “There is no I in team, but there’s a hole in the middle of the A”… don’t be the A.
Amy Spellman works for SelectQuote as an office manager in Leawood, KS. She is a wife, mother and true team player.