The following was written by Renee Houston Zemanski in Selling Power magazine."Teamwork requires sacrifice up font; people who work as a team have to put the collective needs of the group ahead of their individual interests," adds Patrick Lecioni (author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team). "The mind-set shouldn't be, 'Once I hit my quote, then maybe if I have some extra time, I'll help you.' I see a lot of sales teams that say, 'We are interested in team sales,' yet all their compensation and focus is on 'Am I making my numbers in my territory?' It would be far better for a sales manager to say, 'I don't expect them to be a team.'"
Dr. Harry Robins, psychologist and coauthor of The New Why Teams Don't Work agrees. "Many companies don't operate as teams," he explains. "They are getting evaluated on individual reward systems and on individual goals and not team goals."
"Teams are best used when they are formed to address short-term, high-priority, perhaps cross-functional, single-focused, action-oriented outcomes," said Robins.
"Team members have to hold each other accountable," says Lencioni. "If there's a meeting, all members have to commit to be present and to help one another; they can't just check out when they feel they're not getting any benefits."
As coaches, it is important that we don't put too much value on a certain player or certain stats. We are always quick to point out when watching video that on the made shot, there was a good pass, a good screen and a good cut away from the action to occupy the help. The made basket was made by the team!
