Aristotle suggested that friends must "be useful to
one another".
If we substitute the word "team members" for "friends" we can develop team skills and enhance our value to the team by focusing on improving our skills as an effective team member.
Team Members must be Useful to One Another
This is what a team is for. To develop a network and system of shared usefulness within the team.
Team members that have satisfaction with their jobs and stay with a team for years have developed a deep understanding of reciprocal team tasks and responsibilities with the team members’ roles. This falls back to the idea mentioned earlier of “being a team member as opposed to making oneself desirable for membership in the team”.
Once an organization has a mission of usefulness to one another, all team members reciprocate their talents to enhance the others on the team. Why?
Because they are acting as a team member, they behave in a manner that is reciprocal and comes from an internal motivation to be a useful team member. Developing a culture of goals and metrics that are team focused, where team members can act in self-directed ways that multiply the effectiveness of the entire organization. Like an orchestra, each team member is a specialist and knows just when to be useful, in resonance with the organization.
- How can team members be useful to each other?
- Why would this help a team succeed?
- What is needed within a team culture to develop "usefulness"?
- Should team members be friends?
Contact Us - to develop your teams' Usefulness of Each Other
- Michael Cardus is the Founder of Create-Learning-Team Building, an experiential based training and development consulting organization, and a blogger for TeamBuilding NY. Mike specializes in team building, team development, leadership development consulting and training, creating team building programs that retain talented staff members, increase production and effectiveness of your team.
Located in Buffalo NY.
We travel to your location and facilitate team building and leadership training, wherever and whenever best serves your team.
