There’s No “I” in Team…

But there is in “winning.”

During a lengthy production meeting last week on a particularly complex project, I was again reminded of just how many different, highly-refined skills would be required for it to have a chance at success.

Everyone’s heard the cliché “No ‘I’ in Team,” and the world is full of examples of how a team-oriented approach beats the disconnected, individual superstar approach 99 times out of 100.

The sports world, which many tend to forget is a business in the category of entertainment (objective: profits and growth), has some of the most visible examples of the merits of a team approach:

• Ty Cobb, Elgin Baylor, Charles Barkley, Barry Bonds, Patrick Ewing, Ken Griffey, Jr., Barry Sanders and Ted Williams are just a few on a list of superstars who have never won a championship.
• Kobe Bryant won three championships to start his NBA career, teaming with superstar equal Shaquille O’Neal as well as Horry, Fisher and Fox. When the egos began to clash, the chemistry went bad and allies began to scatter. Bryant didn’t win another championship until another formidable group of near equals – Gasol, Odom, Fisher, Bynum — was assembled around him, although he won a ton of individual awards during the non-championship draught.
• Under coach Larry Brown, a legitimate star himself, the 2004 Detroit Pistons ran away with the NBA Championship, beating Bryant’s Lakers in the finals. The Pistons were the quintessential TEAM – not one of their key players (Billups, Hamilton, Prince, Wallace and Wallace) was considered a “superstar.” Each had a unique role to bring to the group, and each unselfishly ignored individual stats for the real objective: winning. The formula worked.

In my experience, almost all successful teams (families, groups, organizations, companies, etc.) are made up of individual “stars” – letter “I’s” – of all different shapes, sizes and styles…single “I’s” all interdependent on one another. Some look bigger, fancier and garner more attention than others, but on successful teams, members understand that this is just a facade used to maximize their overall competitive position. The capital “I’s” understand that they happen to be blessed with skills that are the most visible…but are no more or less important than the others. Each of the members has a role, each understands that their job is to perform that role at the highest possible level, and each knows that all roles are equally important.

Now that we’ve got all these unique, talented “I’s” flopping all around the place, giving each other high-fives, appreciative support and group hugs, we’re still missing something: leadership. It’s what stirs the pot, adjusts the formula. The choreographer, ego neutralizer, butt kicker, confidence builder —  who’s only job is to make the “I’s” perform at their peak, at the right time, in the right place. Leadership must truly earn the other “I’s” sincere respect to have any chance at winning consistently.

Successful leaders understand that their role is just that…a role. No more, or less, important than any of the others. It’s just using the skills that they’ve been given, and performing the role at the highest level possible. Successful leaders communicate to their teams that they strongly believe that all the “I’s,” including themselves, are of equal importance. And they do it without ever having to say it.

Done right, the team wins way more than it doesn’t. Done wrong, the only “I” is in Fail.