What It Takes to Make a Team

I have been involved in teams for 58 years now in the capacity of coach, player, captain, observer, competitor and consultant.   Having thought about this post for a very long time,  I must confess that I started out wanting to dazzle you with all my success but when I got real with myself, I realized very few of 'my' teams had been 'high performing'.  Most were mediocre and some failed completely.

So, many of the things I will put forward here,  are learned from what did not work rather than what did.

My friend Jon Limbird (Bird) always says IMHO (in my humble opinion).  Henceforth, in this BLOG, I will dispense with this as almost everything is an opinion, humble or otherwise.

OK,  teams.   To be successful there are 5 things needed and like a cake, you can't leave an ingredient out.  I am not sure of the order so I will just get it out here.

Common purpose - Goals is another way of expressing this.  These need to be SMART (Specific/Measurable/Attainable/Relevant/Targets).  Forget the mushy stuff like fun, hangin' out, friendship etc.  These are all nice but will never hold a team together.   You need a MISSION with bold and exciting goals.  Individual goals should align with team goals.

Leadership - The leaders must understand, articulate and embody the goals and mission.   They must have/make the time needed to perform both individually and in leadership.   If you are leader, you must have 'drank the coolaid'.

Resources -  This is time and money.   Leaders and members alike should carry a priority of commitment that allocates time and money to accomplish their individual goals and the team goals.

Core Values - It is the habits, attitudes, beliefs and expectations that drive a person's behavior.  The members of team should share values and beliefs about teams, people, competition, collaboration, responsibility, commitment and many other things.

Commitment - In the end, this ties it all together.  This means putting the good of team or other members above personal gain, need and desire.   Replace 'I' with 'WE'.   The team should not be the highest priority in the members lives but it needs to be a high priority.   A casual relationship is not possible if the team is to be successful.

Guys have written 400 page books about this subject and I realize 5 paragraphs is a little simple.   However,  there is nothing simple about attaining success in a team.  It is my observation that the world is full of team members and leaders who don't have foggiest idea of what I am communicating.

The next time you find yourself becoming involved in a team in any capacity, I suggest you check the oil....your oil.  Ask yourself meaningful questions about the bullet points above.  If you can't come up with clear, concise, positive answers, save yourself a lot of time and heartache........just take the people involved for coffee, that will create a more meaningful outcome.

A guy asked me the other day,  how many guys we had on our team.  When I answered, he snickered and said his team had about 30.

I told him if his team was going to compete with us,  they might need some more guys.

When I opened the hood and checked the oil on MADDOG 83, I got a lot of 'right' answers to questions about the above attributes.

I may only have one team mate but I can damn sure count on her.