Almost everything that we do comprises teamwork. While it is important for us to meet our individual goals and aspirations, typically the success or failure of most activities is defined by whether the entire team meets its goals or not.
So, what is common among all high-performing teams?
1. They share a common vision: the team pulls in the same direction. Rarely does a team succeed on a sustained basis if its constituents are not aligned on the direction they need to take. They end up spending too much time sorting internal issues than focusing on winning against competition and overcoming external challenges.
2. They support and back each other up. It is impossible for all of us to be at our highest levels of performance at all times. We try to give our best, but even Messi and Beckham have had their off days! That us where team support comes in to pull us through.
Individual brilliance is important and sometimes carries the entire team through. But to win on a sustained basis, day after day—we need the entire team, or at least the majority to contribute.
Everyone has a vital role in a high-performing team; imagine if we just had strikers in a team or did not have a good goalkeeper. The same goes for us in business. Be it sales, client services, or operations, everyone has an important and specific role. Unless we invest the time and effort to understand that role and develop good working relationships between us, we will have lots of missed passes and maybe even own goals.
I am sure we are all smart enough to avoid these!
#RunningDiscipline
By Bhupender Singh, CEO at Teleperformance in India