Through the last week, I worked with a number of teams: the people in our office, the people on the Executive Committee for the Professional Women's Group of Zurich, a business team with one of my clients. What defines a team, I suppose, is a sense of shared purpose or goals.
Working with a team can be both the most humanly fulfilling and the most challenging aspect of daily professional life. And for me, I've realized that a successful team outcome does not necessarily drive the fulfillment.
Teams often create deep knowledge of each other through the work together. We see how each person responds through a range of situations. We learn how to support each other, how to rely on each other, and when to leave each other alone. Collectively, we belong to something. Together, we often create a result larger than we could have created alone.
It's challenging to let people "be themselves" and still work together as a team. Takes maturity. Overlooking little stuff that niggles. Keeping your eye on the bigger purpose. Fundamental respect that each person is trying to do his or her best, even when it looks differently in the moment.
Over the years, I grown to believe that three things differentiate the best team experiences:
1) The toughest challenges. You always feel best when success was not a given
2) How strongly each person shares the personal commitment to the team result (not just to their own personal reward)
3) Team members keep the humanity and humor in the process out of respect for each other as people
When all three elements collide, the ride can be almost magical!
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