Teamwork is an individual skill

Tom Breur

19 June 2016

“Teamwork” is about performing as a team, and any sizeable effort is likely to require at least some teamwork to complete. Enabling people in groups to perform better, output more, has got to be just about the most valuable skill in our society. Some call it management, some call it leadership, and the Million dollar question is: how do you get the most out of “teams”?

We all can relate to the powerful sensation of being part of a great team. It’s exciting, sometimes even exhilarating. Conversely, a dysfunctional team can drag you down, suck the living daylight out of you… Most efforts lie somewhere in between, and everyone on the team can lead, can contribute to a more fruitful experience.

Teamwork is an individual skill is a wonderful gem from Chris Avery about taking responsibilities in teams. He –somewhat cunningly– breaks down “responsibility” in response-ability: a remarkable feat, a privilege we all have. Every day of our lives we can chose to deliberately and voluntarily act upon events around us. I may not be accountable for a mess our team finds itself in, but I can sure take responsibility to do something about it. That, is true leadership, and has absolutely nothing to do with our hierarchical role in that team. It’s an option we have, a choice we can make, to make a difference.

Leadership doesn’t require nor imply any kind of formal authority. It requires acting on the privilege we all have to be a response-able person in a team – the choice is yours.