Henry Ford once said, “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”
Indeed work would be dull, to say the least, if we had to do it all by ourselves. Good teamwork releases group synergy so that the combined effect of individual contributions far exceeds the sum of their individual effects. The basic assumption here is that individual contributions cannot be as good as all of us working together in a team. But think about it, is it really just an assumption?
Okay, let’s look at it like this. Do you think Alexander would have been as great as he ended up being if he had decided to be a one man army? Or would the Indian cricket team be the ‘Desh Ki Dhadkan’ that they are if they decided to be individual players instead of a team? The fact is that they simply cease to be if they stand alone. The power that they have comes from their team backing each and every one of them!
So too many cooks do not really spoil the broth! Also, the fact that there is mutual accountability and togetherness amongst members of a well-knit team reduces the burden from the shoulders of individuals. And our individual experiences have proven time and again that not only is team work good fun, but it is also a great learning experience.
Most modern creative organisations build teams for performing tasks because it can be established that working in groups can provide a distinct competitive yet satisfying advantage. A strong team environment promotes and encourages cooperative interaction between individuals, greater motivation and develops a culture of high performance. It even instils a sense of being comrades rather than competitors, although a little bit of healthy competition really never hurt anyone!
Working individually provides its own advantages such as an increment of personal creative stature, absence of conflicts and quicker decision making, but can hinder effective achievement of goals due to lack of a collaborative environment and an avenue for proactive and creative approach towards problem solving. While working in a team you will never be alone, you will always have some or the other person to suggest you good things. Suggestions and advice can help you in generating new ideas and bring out the creativity in you.
The fact just stated that suggestions and advice can help you in generating new ideas and bring out the creativity in you, is of immense significance. This point is brought out most when you consider media professions like copywriting and creative advertising. Although the two have distinct functions, quite diverse from each other, yet any piece of creative advertising must exhibit a perfect union of copy and creatives. Without the sense of oneness between the two even the most visually creative ads. and the most meaningful copywriting will fail to have the desired impact. And this kind of unity comes only through team work. If the copywriter wants to do his work alone and the creative designer wants to work alone then their work will never show unity, for their minds will not be in sync.
The above example is one in which the team works at the same level. But there are instances when a natural leader will emerge in a team and lead the rest of them naturally. it becomes difficult for some of us to handle such situations when we have to face our individual limitations and take a back seat. For after all, no one wants to admit that someone else is better than us- right! But the beauty of team work is that every team member is equally important as the other. For what good would a leader be if there was no one to follow him! And what good would an individual worker be if he did not have ideas to work on! A team provides a place for both of them. And no matter what you are inside a team, to the outside world you are both part of the same team. This makes you both equally worthy of whatever work you do as a team.
Personal rivalries and egos, therefore, have no place in a team. Essentially, a team is a mini organisation where no matter how much you give, you will never find yourself empty handed. Your repository of leanings will grow in leaps and bounds when you are working in a team. This is what makes working in teams the great learning experience that it is.
