Learning to think team

I have learned to pay attention to T-shirts. Why? Because, I believe the philosophies of our age are often found on T-shirts. Whether I’m at a mall, a sports stadium, or an amusement park (with the grandkids), just about anywhere, T-shirts inform me about many truths of our time.

Perhaps the most interesting T-shirt I’ve seen is one with a picture of a bunch of guys clinging to a rope for dear life and the words, ‘24 Guys Hanging on the Same Rope’. It perfectly expresses what team attitude is all about. As Ben Franklin said some centuries ago, teams have gotta hang together or else they’ll hang separately.

The need for positive team attitude is apparent today in every human endeavour or arena, at every level in society and the world, from playing fields to chambers of business and government, from the basketball court to the halls of the United Nations, from our families to all families of the world. We need to become teammates.

But what is team attitude? How, in practical terms, do we reach a point where we truly ‘think team’? Actually, I believe team attitude or team spirit is not so much about attitude but a mix of many attitudes and components. Among them:

Being unselfish. Japanese baseball offers us the term wa, an expression describing a player who sublimates his personality and personal goals for the success of the team. This philosophy has been detailed in Robert Whiting’s book, You Gotta Have Wa (2009).

As a basketball player, I have always been conscious about not being selfish with the ball. I have believed in passing the ball and not hanging on it to dribble or take a shot. This requires giving up the ball and not hogging the glory. In short, getting totally out of yourself and becoming part and parcel of the team.

Finding a role and filling it. After winning the NBA (National Basketball Association) championship in the 1990s with a record-setting season, head coach Phil Jackson described his winning formula. “Building a successful team, whether it’s an NBA champion or a record-setting sales force, is essentially a spiritual act. It requires individuals to surrender self-interest for the greater good so that the whole adds up to more than the sum of its parts... More than anything, I wanted to build a team that would blend individual talent with heightened group consciousness — a team that could win big without becoming small in the process.”

A senior in college, C. Everett Koop (who later became the surgeon general of the US), was asked in an interview when seeking admission to medical school: “Do you expect to make any major discoveries in medicine?” “I believe,” he responded, “that those who make discoveries in the field of medicine are building upon the efforts of many who preceded them, but did not do that final thing which achieved success and fame. I would like to be the one who makes a major discovery, but I will also be content to contribute to the process.”

Right on! The most effective progress is made not by individuals working in isolation to win glory for themselves, but by teams, sharing their knowledge, skills, and experience, and magnifying their efforts and achievements in the process.

Being a team of cheerleaders. As I reflect on my lengthy life and journey, I realise there have been both critics and cheerleaders along the way. Clearly, while I have learned from some critics, my greater need has always been for cheers and encouragement. Everybody needs a cheerleader. We all need someone at our backs, people by our side. Encouragement promotes growth. Praise lifts spirits and morale. Commendations stimulate cooperation. On the other hand carping and criticism often kills the fighting spirit.

Being flexible. As a psychologist in private practice, I often worked with persons who seemed to be living at 1 or 10. However my energies have been focussed on helping people live between 2 and 9. Success in the contemporary world requires flexibility and acceptance.

Some years ago, I read a feature in the Wall Street Journal comparing latter day business teams and organisations to a doubles tennis pair. Doubles partners play interactive roles. When one person serves, the other is at the net. But these roles are interchangeable. If an opponent lobs the ball over my partner’s head, I better hustle back to return it. If I take a me-first approach — ‘that’s not my job’— you bet we won’t make it to Wimbledon. Flexibility and adaptability are absolute requisites for any successful team, whether on a tennis court or in the business world.

Only through teamwork can we scale the pinnacles of success, make the breakthroughs we need in our careers, our personal, family and community lives. But in the sports arena the importance of teamwork is often forgotten.

So my advice is, always ‘think team’! Develop and maintain a healthy team spirit and attitude. When people and/or players get on the same page, they achieve something beautiful to witness — and hard to defeat.

(Dr. George Selleck is a San Francisco-based advisor to EduSports, Bangalore)