Henry Ford said, “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” And in today’s business world that is very, very true. You have to know how to work as part of a team. That means leading as well as following. There is no way that you can be the “leader” all the time. And in my experience the best leaders also know how to follow.

In a team environment there are certain times where it is ok to violently disagree (typically in the strategy and planning stages of any project), but there always comes a time to fall in line and focus on the team’s objective instead of your own. You might have seen this dynamic on “The Apprentice.” Many of the contestants argue well past the planning phase of a task. That is a huge mistake. The team that stays effectively focused on the objective typically wins. The one that starts in-fighting, or can’t get everyone on the team moving in the same direction, loses. It is all about execution and that’s true for most businesses. A poor plan executed well beats out a great plan executed poorly every time. Remember that maxim when your team is performing a task – don’t be the one belly-aching about a decision that has already been made. And if you’re the leader, make sure to give people the opportunity to be heard during the start of the process, but don’t allow a single “ME” thinker to disrupt your entire operation once the plan is in place.

The military did a great job of reinforcing the teamwork lessons I’d learned on the playing field growing up through high school and in college competing in basketball, baseball, soccer and football. Those lessons are critical to success:

· There is no “I” in TEAM. “ME” thinkers cannot lead and will ultimately hurt your performance – no matter how good they are as an individual.
· The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Meaning five people working together can do so much more than five people working separately.
· Even though you may not like someone on your team you’re going to have to learn how to work with them.

One particular instance of teamwork that made a huge personal impact on me occurred during Ranger School. We were conducting a 12-mile forced march as the end of City Phase and I was very dehydrated. It was my own fault. I should have been drinking a lot more water. But I didn’t. And about three miles into the march, my legs cramped so badly that I couldn’t continue while also carrying the 80 lbs of weight of my rucksack. My Ranger Buddy – the smallest team size at Ranger School is two people and your Ranger Buddy is supposed to always “watch your back” – actually took my rucksack and carried on the front of his body while still carrying his for over two miles! I was able to consume enough water during that time and work out the cramps so that I could take my rucksack back from him. His teamwork attitude enabled me to complete Ranger School!

One of the greatest examples of teamwork and leadership I’ve ever seen was during the 1971 NFL season. Roger Staubach (US Naval Academy’s best quarterback who won the Heisman Trophy as a junior) and the Dallas Cowboys had a 4-3 record in the middle of the season and ended up coming back to make it to the Super Bowl. Even though Dallas didn’t win the big game, Roger was impressed with the turnaround and attributes it to teamwork. When I interviewed Roger for my book, “TAKE COMMAND,” I asked him about how they accomplished such an incredible feat and he replied simply, “We were 4-2 in the middle of the season until we started putting team ahead of ‘Hey, what’s in it for me?’ If we hadn’t done that, there is no way we would have ever won 10 games and made it to the Super Bowl. We all put our priorities in perspective. Some guys today, they just don’t get it. They are very talented athletes, but their priorities are all about the personal…money, endorsements, fame. People like this cannot be the dominating force in any company or organization. They certainly aren’t the ones to lead the charge. Team players take control of any team.”

· Are you a team player?
· Do you know how to follow as well as lead?
· Can you follow a plan you don’t necessarily agree with or do you argue about it until the bitter end?
· Are you picked first or last for team projects?

The answers to these questions should tell you a lot about what type of team player you are. Are you satisfied? Do you want to be better? Work on your teamwork leadership principle and you’ll find that success is a whole lot closer!

TAKE COMMAND