Teamwork

I had today's blog all done on Friday afternoon, and left it at work (because I couldn't work on it online, I typed it up and printed it off to carry it home with me). It was a really good blog, too. LOL Oh, well, we'll see if I can recreate it in some semblance or other.

Our topic this week is Teamwork. What is it, what does it mean?

I'm going to approach this from a business perspective...cuz it's what I know. Just about everyone has been on a team before--whether it's been in sports (competitive or just plain having fun), in business, or being part of a family. To me, being on a team means thinking bigger than yourself. There are other people depending on you to carry your fair share, even when you don't feel like it.

The great industrialist Andrew Carnegie said this about teams: "Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results."

Deliciously Naughty Writers is a team. We've banded together to pool our resources, to play off of each other's strengths, to shore up our weaknesses. And to have a good time along the way, of course. But for this group to be successful, we must each play our part.

Teamwork divides the task and doubles the success.

There is no time off, no breaks. And I'm not talking about not being able to take a vacation. I'm talking about having a "I don't feel like doing it this week/month/year". As a team, we're all in this together, and as Ben Franklin said, "We must all hang together, or assuredly, we shall all hang separately.

One last thought. Back in 1980, the U.S. was in an energy crisis, a hostage crisis, a recession...It was not our best year. A group of college and minor league hockey players (with an average age of 21) faced down competitors that were bigger, more experienced, and they came out on top. Because they were a team, and used each other's strengths to their best advantage. I'm talking about the U.S. hockey team, who beat the Soviet team at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid in New York. Commentator Al Michael's now-famous response says it all:

"Do you believe in miracles? Yes!"

So, what do you think? Have you been part of a team before, and was it successful--or not?


"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." ~Helen Keller