Many people work very hard to become the best they can be. Whether it’s through education, learning and practicing a set of skills, working to improve natural talents, or plain old hard work, people strive to be leaders in something (sports, sales, expertise in a particular subject, etc.).
Being an expert, being skilled or excelling at something is advantageous in today’s competitive culture. Whether one is trying for a spot on a sports team or for a position in a Fortune 500 company, the individual needs to set himself or herself apart from the crowd—ideally to be seen as better than the crowd.
Yet, while the entry to many endeavors like sports teams and employment opportunities depends upon an individual’s abilities, once the individual is chosen, they often find themselves in situations that require teamwork.
Success in many contemporary jobs requires specialization, analogous to the specialized skills required of players on a professional sports team. And just as on sports teams, it takes the accumulation of numerous individuals, each of whom excel at their particular skills, to come together and work as a team in order for the entire group to win.
The best quarterback in the world will not have a successful career if the rest of his team members aren’t also excellent. Similarly, the best salesperson in the world won’t have a successful career if he or she isn’t part of a quality team, including management, manufacturing, delivery, and support personnel.
In the business world, just as in sports, teams offer advantages:
- Team members learn to work together, to trust one another. Members may develop a sense of cohesion and a “one for all, all for one” spirit may emerge.
- When a team is responsible for a project or a task, then all team members have a shared understanding of the goal.
- The accumulation of expertise brought my individual members of the team produces a whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts.
- Teamwork produces a sense of ownership, pride, and responsibility that is shared among the individual members of the group.
- Team members will learn from one another, increasing each member’s ability to contribute to the whole.
Brian Mitchell knows the value of teamwork. As a member of professional NFL teams for 14 years, and now a member of radio and television teams, Mitchell has experienced the ways teams can work together to accomplish great things, and he’s also seen the challenges present in teamwork. Mitchell shares his messages on the importance of teamwork, goal setting, and more with numerous groups, including business leaders, professional athletes, and more. If you’d like to book Mitchell to speak to your group, call him at 703-688-2399.