The Power of the Team
About 10 years ago I sat down to brainstorm some fundraising ideas for the middle school PTO with Vicki, my Co-President, and she suggested helicopter rides. At this point a good part of my brain simply froze with the many legal and logistical limitations that flew in for my attention at once. Of course during brainstorming sessions one just takes notes and keeps going, so that is exactly what we did, then sleep outs on the school’s roof as well as Guiness Book of World Record ideas got added to the list. This is where I mention that Vicki and I made the perfect team. She and I had complementary skill sets and mutual respect. Neither of us would have been as successful alone. I would never have had her grand ideas and her ideas would never have come into being without me to make them happen.
So what makes a good team? I believe a corner-stone is mutual respect. Not just for the skills that everyone brings to the table, but for the people themselves. A well balanced team will include a mix of abilities with strengths overlapping weaknesses in such a way that everything is covered. To ensure that a variety of voices and ideas are represented a good team will be made up of diverse members to include differences in age, gender, race, income level, family structure, political affiliation, education, years of experience in the role and level of experience with the topic.
The best solutions come from differences in opinion, so it would be a catastrophic disaster if everyone were to agree at all times. It really helps to have at least one person in the room who thinks quite differently from the rest of the group. This is, in my opinion, one of the most valuable members of the team. It is a hard role to fill as their whole job is to bring in the “out of left field” ideas. They will be seen as disruptive, so the respect piece is critical. They take the good ideas and knock them around in ways the group might not have foreseen and make them better. A leadership team that always feels comfortable is missing out on true opportunities!
As we move forward as a club we will be pulling together teams to plan, organize and implement projects. We will need a variety of skill sets and experience levels to accomplish our goals, so there will be a place for everyone to contribute. How do you want to participate? What role will you take on the team?
Moving intention into Action,
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