There is no ‘I’ in team, but there is a ‘me’

If there is one thing that I have learnt over recent years in senior / leadership positions, it is the importance of Team Spirit.

We all hear things like ‘teamwork makes the dream work’ and understand working as a team enables us to be stronger and accomplish more than is we were to try and do everything on our own.

But what does ‘Team Spirit’ actually mean to me?

Most importantly for me it is about looking after one another. Taking time to understand we are all different, we have all got different things going on and we are at different stages of our lives and careers. We are all motivated by different things. We all react and respond to things differently. So a lesson for me has been to make sure I have a personal connection with each person I work with and that they have a connection with me. None of us are perfect, we all mistakes and we all have stuff going on in/outside work. I will always try my best to listen first.

Trust is an essential ingredient to building a high performing team. Trust that is genuine and goes both ways. We need relationships where we can share our concerns, our ideas, our vulnerabilities without fear of being shot down or judged.

Closely linked to trust, is integrity. Doing what we say we will do, doing the right thing when no one else is watching. We need to be able to self-reflect and be happy with our own behaviours. I encourage team members to always look at their part in any situation and I practice the same.

Team Spirit is also about a sense of pride. Pride in what we do as individuals, pride in what we do as a team and pride in what we stand for. Our company values are the fabric that binds us together, that provides us with that a measuring stick for our behaviours and attitude. Supporting one another and being the best we can be, putting as much effort in to supporting another team member as we would put in to our own work.

Another key ingredient is the ability to have fun. In the work environment we are often extremely busy and likely spending more time with our team than we do our loved ones. So having the ability to look up, have a conversation, have some positive banter and most important of all, celebrate success as a team. Smiling as a team should never be underestimated.

People will do more if they feel valued and appreciated, so making sure I acknowledge others contributions, efforts and hard work is ever-important. We should never underestimate the power of a simple ‘thank you’.

‘The greatest success we will know, is helping others succeed and grow’ – Gregory Scott Reid

#TeamSpirit

#LoveWhereYouWork

#WeAreMane