T-E-A-M These four
letters form an acrostic to create a very
powerful word. Author John Maxwell states,
“Teams come in all shapes and sizes. If you’re
married, you and your spouse are a team. If you
are employed by an organization, you and your
colleagues are a team. If you volunteer your
time, you and your fellow workers are a team.
Every day in some small way, you are part of a
team.” Each letter in the word can help define
the dynamics of being team.
T-TIME- It takes time to
become a team. It doesn’t happen overnight.
Becoming team is a process. It is a process that
can be fun AND is often times messy.
Take time to know yourself. Strong, secure
individuals make strong team members. Knowing
ourselves means acknowledging our strengths and
our weaknesses. Every person has unique gifts
and abilities that are brought to the team, and
each person on the team is important. For
instance, think for a moment about the
ingredients necessary for making a cake. Each
ingredient has unique qualities. Each has a role
in the final product. Yet all mixed together the
ingredients change form and create something
very different and quite delectable.
E-EXPECTATIONS-We all have
expectations about relationships, i.e.,
pre-conceived ideas about what it means to be
family, to be a spouse, to be team in the work
setting. We also have expectations of ourselves.
These expectations give us the impetus to do
great work or may sabotage our efforts for
success.
Think about these questions. What do you expect
of yourself? Do you give yourself and others
grace? What do you expect from your family? What
do you expect from your spouse? What about your
job? Do you expect everyone to like you? Do you
expect to like everyone? Though we know that
life would be boring if we were all alike, I
find that many of us have difficulty honoring
differences in each other. It is hard to embrace
the idea that different does not equal wrong.
A-AGREE -Being team means a
willingness to work together. Halford Luccock
once said, “No one can whistle a symphony. It
takes an orchestra to play it.”
Agree to communicate openly and honestly. Agree
to listen to one another deeply and with heart.
Honest, open communication and listening are key
ingredients in being team. Our willingness to
dialogue strengthens our relationships. Agree to
focus your own strengths as well as the
strengths of your family, friends, and
co-workers. Agree to respect others. Agree to
work through conflict.
M-Mission - Develop a
mission statement or a daily mantra that will
help you stay focused on the goals of the team.
Our lives are filled with distractions and it is
easy to loose sight of the prize. Being team
requires working together. As you face the
challenge of being team, consider these lessons
from a flock of geese.
Scientist have discovered that
geese fly in the formation of a V because the
flock gain 70% more flying range than if each
bird flew on it’s own.
Be Team: Like the geese, people who
share a common direction and a sense of
community can get where they are going quicker
and easier, because they are traveling on the
thrust of one another.
Whenever one goose falls out
of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and
resistance of trying to go it alone. It will
quickly try to get back into formation to take
advantage of the lifting power of the birds in
front.
Be Team: If we have as much sense as a
goose, we will stay in formation with those who
are headed the same way we are going.
When the lead goose gets
tired, it rotates back in the wing, and another
goose takes over the point position.
Be Team: It pays to take turns doing
hard jobs!
The geese from behind
constantly honk to encourage those up front to
keep up their speed.
Be Team: An encouraging word goes a long
way.
When a goose gets sick or is
wounded, two geese follow it down until it is
able to fly or it dies.
Be Team: If we have the sense of a goose, we
will stand by each other.
Author Unknown
T-E-A-M--“Alone we can do
little, together we can do much.”
