Power in Numbers: Why You Need a Team

Anything valuable in this world, it has always been groups of men who do. Anything impactful. Truth is, you can't do very much alone. You can't travel very far. You can't compete at the highest levels of anything. No one fears or respects the man with no backup. A single man is nearly worthless.

The Lone Wolf Myth

We have all heard of lone-genius stories, of people that changed the world. Think Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, or even, from fiction, Batman. These solitary figures fighting against all odds do capture our imagination. But let's be real. Even these titans had teams behind them.

Steve Jobs had a team of engineers, designers, and marketers. Elon Musk has SpaceX and Tesla, filled with thousands of brilliant minds. And Batman? Well, he has Alfred, Robin, and the Justice League. Truth be told, success is rarely a solo act. It's building a strong team around you and leveraging the strengths of everyone involved that does it.


The Power of Synergy

When you put together the talents of several people, you can call it magic. It is synergy. It is when the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

Think about a basketball team: the point guard, the shooting guard, the small forward, the power forward, and the center. Each has his own strengths, but when they work as a team, they could make plays that are really impossible to stop. This very principle will scale to any area of life. Building a business, growing a career, just plain making changes in one's personal life—all it takes is having a great support system behind you.


How to Build Your Own Team

So how does one go about building their own team? Here are a few tips:

• Identify blind spots: What am I bad at? What am I lacking?

• Seek complementary people: Identify those persons having the capability/skill that you lack.

• Establish trust: Every effective teamwork is founded on this. Be trustworthy, dependable, and supportive.

• Communicate effectively: If the theory of a team is to work, communication has to be lucid. Everyone needs to be on the same page.

* Celebrate successes: Show your appreciation and give incentives for the efforts of your team members.

Keep in mind that creating a strong team will need time and effort. But it's well worth the investment.


Questions for You

* Who in your life would you describe as being on your team?

* What are some of the challenges you've experienced or seen when someone tries to do something alone?

* How can you start building a stronger support system around you?


Share in the comments below. Let's build a community of support and encouragement for one another.

 *In later posts, we'll be going through some case examples of team building in different areas of life.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bengaluru Blues

Image
  The horns continued to honk, a dull hum beneath the cacophony of squealing brakes and incessant "beep beep" of auto-rickshaws. Rajesh reclined against the worn seat of his auto, the sun beating hot upon the thin plastic canopy. His leg pained, a throbbing ache that refused to abate. It had been broken in a hit-and-run at the Silk Board junction, and it was healing slowly, too slowly. He observed the crowded Hosur Road in Bengaluru. Buses emitted black smoke, inching through traffic like giant, lumbering brutes. Motorcycles, with two or three riders, sped by, their horns contributing to the cacophony. Peddlers wandered between the stationary cars, hollering, "Sir, Madam, idli, dosa!" above the din. It was a chaos of frustration, a cacophony of impatience, and Rajesh, trapped there as a witness, had a bitter taste in his mouth. He was once a programmer, a coder. He had ambitions of having his own company, of creating the next hot app. He even had a notion, something...
Read more

The Cubbon Tale- Short Story

Image
  The sun let loose its warming rays over the lush decor of Cubbon Park. Tall boughs of a majestic Banyan had reached out on the ground forming an umbrella as tentacles offered a canopy sheltering families spreading out their baskets to have a picnic there. Cheers and laughter among the children playing badminton and football fill up the ambient peace. A little girl, Sonia, was playing with a shuttlecock. She let it fall beside a tree trunk and then ran after it, ponytail bouncing with every step. When she picked up the shuttlecock, she heard strange moaning sounds behind the tree. Her curiosity got the better of her, and she peeped behind the tree. What she saw wrinkled her forehead in worry. A couple, young one, embracing each other passionately, locked mouths, hands exploring each other's bodies. The girl figured they might need help, thinking the moaning was painful. She hastened back to her mother and pulled at her hand. "Mommy, Mommy! Those people need help!". Her m...
Read more

The Cubbon Tale - Ashwin Alex (Short Story) Reflection

A Tale of Generations  The short story, "Cubbon Tales - Look Closer," reads like a seemingly simple tale about a child's curiosity and a mother's dilemma to explain something that is essentially a complex social norm. Yet, beneath all this lies an intense commentary on the changing values of generations and the friction caused when old meets new.  The Clash of Cultures: The story is based on the act of public kissing, which is considered inappropriate by the older generation but harmless by the younger generation. Sonia is the protagonist who seems to be confused regarding her mother's reaction to the couple's show of affection. She portrays innocent curiosity that reflects a generation less held in shackles of tradition and more open to expressing emotions freely. The story reveals how the emphasis of the older generation on social norms is against the desire for self-expression and authenticity by the younger generation.   The Power of Observation and Ques...
Read more