There IS an ‘I’ in Team.

I often hear the statement “There is no 'I' in team” but I think there is . . .

OK – Even my spelling isn’t that bad – I know there in no 'I' in the word 'team' but bear with me. In a book I read recently, a team was defined as:

"a small number of people with complimentary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable".

I think this is a very idealized view and somewhat unrealistic. I see it as slightly different. I think a team is a group of people who realise that they cannot achieve their personal goals alone. I am pretty sure that if people were able to achieve what they wanted to achieve alone then they would. That way they'd get all the acclaim and money for themselves and they wouldn't have to share.

That may sound strong but my point is that members of a team have their own need for personal gratification, individual recognition and prestige.

Team leaders who fail to publicly acknowledge and appreciate the individual contributions of any team members will soon discover that those team members will resort to non-team orientated practices (like hoarding and not sharing knowledge) in order to gain the personal recognition they need.

I think a team is made up entirely of 'I's and the word should really be spelled like this:

Each team member has their own individual needs. Anyone who forgets that a team is made up entirely of 'I's will have difficulty leading one.

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Rob Thompson leads workshops on soft skills that deliver real results.