10 COMMANDMENTS OF TEAMWORK

Teams don’t work without teamwork, but what is teamwork?

All great teams possess three elements: 1) a clear win that motivates everyone to bring their “A” game, 2) a sense of comradery that holds everyone together in unity, and 3) agility that allows everyone to respond to emerging problems and opportunities with grace and speed. The French call it – spirit de corps, teamwork is the hidden strength of any great team.

The quality of teamwork is directly correlated to the quality of relationships among team members. There are some basic rules to working relationships and when followed, people can quickly come together as  team.  You can call these fundamental principles or a team ethos or any other name.

I choose to call them Commandments of Teamwork. Here are 10 of them:

I. Treat others the way you want to be treated. Simple, not easy.

II. Love your teammates in a love language they can understand. This insight comes from Dr Gary Chapman’s Five Love Languages which you can find here.

III. Choose conflict over tension. Popular leadership author Patrick Lencioni gave us this principle. You can find more great wisdom from him here.

IV. At the beginning of the day, greet each other individually with a smile and a, “Good morning.” The little things are the big things when it comes to working relationships.

V. At the end of the day, say good-bye to each other individually and with a smile,  “Have a good night.” I will say it again, the little things are the big things when it comes to working relationships.

VI. Refrain from speaking negatively about another team member that is not present. Even if it’s true, God doesn’t want you damaging the reputation of another person.  Check out a quote about what detraction means (and why it matters for leaders) from the Catechism of the Catholic Church here.

VII. Communicate with emotional intelligence (EQ) – have the courage to communicate what you feel and the consideration to understand from the others person’s point of view.  Consider this: 90% of top performers across industries have high EQ and 58% of your performance is related to EQ. For a great website on emotional intelligence, check this out.

VIII. Seek first to understand then to be understood.  As much as I respect the late, great Stephen Covey, it was St. Francis of Assisi that first used this phrase.

IX. Seek forgiveness and reconciliation when you have hurt someone. Acknowledge the pain you caused by your words/actions; accept responsibility; apologize sincerely and be vulnerable enough to wait for, “I forgive you.” I wrote a blog post about how to apologize when you mess up. You can find it here.

X. Refrain from saying the negative or unkind thing especially when fatigued or provoked. Easier said than done. Remember, it can take years to build trust and seconds to destroy.

That’s it, ten commandments of teamwork. Of course, this is not an exhaustive list but it does provide some important principles to live by with your teams.

Please submit your own ideas in the comments section. See you next week!