Striking a Balance between Individual Performance and Teamwork

This was written more than a year back. I found it in my mail archives and wanted to record these thoughts in the blog. Images courtesy Google.

Introduction

The ability to be a team player is one of the most important requirements for success in today's job market. This is a distinct turnaround from, say, 20 years ago when individual accomplishments were the all-important. Employers would put the emphasis on individual performance, although getting along in the workplace and with work colleagues has always been important.

But in today's competitive environment, every organization is looking for ways to better their own performance. How can we achieve this without improving existing work process? And to propose better solutions, we need to be creative.

This article tries to find an answer to this basic question – What is the most important attribute to succeed in today's global world – Creativity or Teamwork?

Teamwork

There are few jobs that don't require us to interact with colleagues in a team। For the most part, we need to work cohesively with others at our workplaces to achieve the organizational goals.

Work teams play an important role in a modern organization. From software engineers who collaborate to write code to the board of directors who gather to make strategic decisions, teams are increasingly being used worldwide as the foundation of work. We know from our everyday experiences, however, that effective teamwork is not achieved as easily as getting a collection of individuals together.

The following characteristics should be present in a team for it to succeed.

• Common Goal in mind
  
• Active Participation by ALL team members
  
• Open-mindedness
  
• Clarity on the role of each team member
  
• Support between team members
  
• Support for the team leader
  
• Avoidance of dominance of any one team member
  
• Have fun
  

Even when all the above mentioned characteristics are present in a team, can we ensure the team members will be happy on a long term basis? We usually find employees looking for a change.

A team that destroys itself in the course of accomplishing its mission is no team at all, even if everyone is a team player.

This brings us to an important aspect of teamwork: the manner in which a team interacts. Dynamics play a big role in the successful completion of a project. Regardless of the ideal of reaching a common goal, every person has a different viewpoint. In a single group, one may find pessimists, control freaks, eternal optimists, and fence-sitters. The control freak will ride roughshod over others. The fence-sitter will avoid taking responsibility. The one who will suffer the most in the group will probably be the optimist, who will continually propose solutions and continually find his or her ideas rebuffed. In the meantime, work will suffer directly or indirectly in the form of decreasing interest and enthusiasm among those who are likely doing more than their fair share.

So, the challenge lies in ensuring these differences of opinion are taken in a positive manner and collectively the team succeeds. The joy of working in a close-knit team and completing the goal is unmatched.

Individual Performance

In today's world, life has become so mechanical and every one suffers from stress related problems. What is the reason for this pattern? Is it because of tight deadlines and work pressure? Or is it because of repetitive or unsatisfied work?

When we enjoy what we do, there can be no stress. Whenever there is a bit of you in the work that you do, the work will truly be enjoyable. Remember, Creativity has nothing to do with any particular work. Whatsoever you do can become creative if you know what creativity means.

Creativity means enjoying any work as meditation, doing any work with love. Be a little innovative – that's what creativity is. Innovate new ways, new means. Try something new that nobody has ever done. And you will find that you love your work because you know you have contributed a little and that feeling will keep you energized.

When a person brings a new idea, it is like fire. It kindles newer ideas in other minds too and brings fresh energy to the team.

Today we find that organizations spend time and money in training their senior management and giving each employee an opportunity to learn other disciplines in their work. What is the reason behind this? They are trying to refresh the mind of each individual so that the organization as a whole benefits.

We should try to bring this initiative in smaller teams. If any one of the team member, spends some time on proposing a new idea, the entire team will be rejuvenated and we can see ideas flowing.

Think Alone, Work Together

We understand the benefits of team culture and no organization can ignore it. The challenge remains in keeping the team members motivated and finding out new ways to refresh the minds. The mind can be refreshed only when the thought process is evoked and new ideas are proposed.

Can we think together? Every man has his own thoughts and ideas. We inherit the products of the thoughts of other men. We inherit the wheel. We make a cart. The cart becomes an automobile. The automobile becomes an air plane. But all through this process, what we receive from others is only the end product of their thinking. The creator in each man takes this product as material and uses it and originates the next step.

Men learn from one another. But all learning is only the exchange of material. What he does with his learning and how he interprets it is based on his own mind. No one should control it.

Hence, each man should think alone, express his ideas and be ready for others to express their opinion on the same. Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than in the one where they sprang up.

The powers of the mind are like the rays of the sun dissipated. When they are concentrated, they illumine – Swami Vivekananda.

There should be variety, but that does not make us separate. Variety makes life richer.

No man is an island. To implement an idea, we need to co-operate with others. And hence a team is formed and for the team to be successful there needs to be synergy in the team. The team should work together by free agreement and each should be free in his proper function. Synergy catalyzes, unifies and unleashes the greatest powers within people. It means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

The most important responsibility of a manager is to keep his team motivated and rejuvenated. He should ensure he keeps his mind fresh and open a new idea for discussion to the team. If the team decides on a progressive change, the manager should be able to incorporate the same into the work process.

Any change will have inconvenience but we should remember that there will be no progress without change. Hence each member in the team should think alone and express his ideas. The team should then decide on the best approach and implement the same with a common goal.

Conclusion

If one does not love work, one is always unhappy in life. In order to be truly happy in life, one must love work.

We should never forget that the team comprises of individuals. Unless, each member in the team is satisfied and happy, the team cannot be at its best. Any individual can be happy when he enjoys his work. If you can perform your work creatively, lovingly, totally, you will have the taste of life. When happy individuals come together, the work they produce will be of high quality and the organization will truly become a great place to work.