5 MAJOR INCENTIVES FOR BEING IN A TEAM

I have read a lot about teams and teamwork: John Maxwell, Brian Tracy, Myles Munroe, Ben Carson, Norman Vincent Peale, and Mike Murdock…. and they all seem to agree unequivocally on one thing.

Since the age of 18 when I became a member of the Executive Committee of my church, I had also realised that encouraging people to work in a team with true team spirit is crucial to the success of the team. Leaders have to show everyone on the team why it’s important that they work together. At that time, my pastor had not much difficulty convincing everyone to see a common end and work towards it – after all, everyone on the committee wanted to be blessed by God!

Since then, I have seen leaders who never really got their teams off the ground because the members just wouldn’t ‘blend’ – they were always kind of ‘oil in water’. Unfortunately for me – maybe fortunately if I factor in the lessons I’ve learnt – I have been in similar situations before, some of which I pulled through but others I simply gave up on.
As I read from John Maxwell’s Teamwork Makes the Dream Work this afternoon, I noticed he quoted the words of King Solomon in Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12. There and then I was inspired to write this piece. For every leader who has had some hard time getting people to work together, and for everyone who seems not to be so convinced it’s useful after all to work in a team. The message here is one I have never really come across in any of the works on teamwork I have read – at least not in this form.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (Young’s Literal Translation, boldface emphasis mine)
9 The two are better than the one, in that they have a good reward by their labour.
10 For if they fall, the one raiseth up his companion, but wo to the one who falleth and there is not a second to raise him up!
11 Also, if two lie down, then they have heat, but how hath one heat?
12 And if the one strengthen himself, the two stand against him; and the threefold cord is not hastily broken.

From the passage, I can identify 5 major incentives for being in a team.
1. Superior returns. Look at the phrase ‘good reward’. The term reward refers to something you get in return for something you’ve done. Every person would get more for what he does together with others than from what he does alone. That is always true in the long run even if it appears not so in the short term.

2. Superior resilience. ‘the one raiseth up his companion’ suggests to me that team players recover from shocks or downfalls much more quickly than loners.

3. Superior comfort. In the context of the quoted passage, ‘heat’ refers to the warmth received from staying close to others especially during cold weather. Those who are married would understand that better! It is much more comfortable to stay in a team for that is when one would truly have cover from the vicissitudes of life.

4. Reduced vulnerability. In the face of adversity, ‘two stand against’. That suggests that extra strength from other team members is always available to fight with. In essence, the vulnerability of each team player is significantly reduced.

5. Reduced volatility. Something is volatile if it disappears so quickly. For every loner, the absence of the foregoing four benefits makes it easier for them to snap under stress. A team player is like s strand in a length of twined rope. To break him completely, you have to break the entire team. Even if a strand of twined rope is broken, it apparently stays intact unless it begins to fall away from the rest of the strands. It becomes much less useful – if at all – once it completely falls of the ‘team’. It’s the same for us all; we are much less volatile when we stay in our teams. If we want to be lone rangers, then we’d be easily broken and quickly forgotten.

MEN THAT WILL SUCCEED 13: They are Dependable

‘Are you known by the promises you don’t keep?’ (John Mason)

A dependable man is one who can be relied on. When he talks you can hold on to what he says. When you share secrets with him you can rest assured. When you give him an assignment you can go on break. A dependable man will do things well, whether being supervised or not. In short, dependability is about the greatest ability anyone can have.
Being dependable entails honesty, commitment, sincerity and transparency. A serious-minded man does not take long to realize that without being dependable he can’t get anywhere. People will come to believe in you based on how dependable you have proven yourself.
I once paid a photographer – student of mine upfront to print some pictures for me. I rarely do that anyway, but I did it in his own case. This boy normally delivers after three days if l didn’t pay him upfront – and I never owed him. However, it took him well over three week to deliver the picture I paid him upfront for. He never had my patronage again! A tailor once told me that he could sew trousers for me after a certain design. He boasted so confidently that l felt I’d be wrong if l didn’t allow him. Guess what? He gave me traditional wears instead of Western designs. The result? I never patronized him again.
Be a professional, an artisan, a trader or what-have-you, your success depends on your dependability.
‘The North Star is much smaller to the eye than the moon yet it’s so dependable that the sailor can guide his ship by it’

MEN THAT WILL SUCCEED 12: They are Mature

‘If you’re hunting rabbits in tiger country, you must keep your eyes puled for tigers, but when you are hunting tigers you can ignore the rabbits’ (Henry Stern)

Maturity refers to the state of being fully developed, perfected and ready. It is marked in human beings by the possession of sound judgement, right sense of value and temperance. Maturity has nothing to do with chronological age and it is principally evident in what you do say and do not say. A Yoruba adage says, “Oju ni agba n ya, agba kii ya enu’ (Elders are quicker to see than to speak)
All things are lawful but not all things are expedient. It takes a mature mind to distinguish. You are beginning to mature when the things you say are more of original actions than stimulated reactions. People who exhibit this character generally command so much respect.
On the road to success, a lot of self – control, self-denial, discipline and clear–mindedness is required. Only mature minds possess these qualities. Men that know what to ignore at any point in time. Men that can forgo momentary pleasure for lasting values. Men like Joseph who can say ‘No’ to Potiphar’s wife. These the are real candidates for success. Men and not children.
‘Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child and your princes feast in the morning’ (King Solomon, the preacher)

On Integrity

‘Wise men are men of their word. The quality of a man’s life is in direct proportion to the integrity and quality of his word’. (Matthew Ashimolowo)

You are only as good as your word. Being a successful person is not all about being comfortable or ahead of others. Can you be entrusted with money? Can you be taken at your word? I would rather be poor than live a liar. Honesty and integrity go hand-in-hand. “The test of your wisdom may be your ability to walk in honesty” (Matthew Ashimolowo).
Dishonest men have a problem: they have to struggle to remember what they said sometimes ago so that they don’t say something different now. Recent researches have even shown that you burn much more energy when you lie. Your whole body system is also upset. That is exactly what the lie detecting machine exploits.
When falsely accused of extra-marital affairs by a certain woman with whom he had lived in the same neighborhood, Dr. Ben Carson had to depend on his honest way of life to maintain the confidence of his family and associates. Commit this to heart: one day, when the chips are down and everything seems to go wrong, then the strength of your integrity will determine your fate. Woe betide the man who, on such days, is found to be a fake.
‘Hold integrity high, your life may one day depend on it’.
(John Mason)