This article comes from Entrepreneur.
Let’s get something straight before we go any further: teams always beat groups of individuals. Want to accomplish the impossible? Build a team. Looking to turn around a hopeless situation? Fire up a team. Trying to launch a new-to-the-world idea? Yep, you guessed it, a team is what you need.
The single most important team in SEAL Team is the swim buddy; it’s also the smallest team. All SEAL teams are developed from the swim buddy system. Two swim pairs form a fire team, two fire teams form a squad and two squads form a platoon. (The names have changed slightly with the term “platoon” replaced with squadron but the basic premise remains.) The same holds true in the civilian world whether you’re just starting out, rebuilding or rebranding — it’s all about pairing people up. The goal of swim buddies is three-fold:
Swim buddies aren’t forever — rotate people through the pairing up process and not only will they solve problems faster and more effectively they will also develop the critical bonds of trust needed to galvanize individuals into a selfless focused winning machine — an Unstoppable Team.
Understanding and articulating your company’s “why” is fundamentally important, but the “how” behind how you and your team execute drives your organization’s culture and ultimately, it’s brand. Your company’s brand is nothing more than a reflection of your culture, and culture is a reflection of your teammates’ actions…and guess where your teams’ reflection comes from? It comes right from the leader: you. No detail is too small when modeling the way for the organization you strive to build. Make no mistake, your actions are under a microscope.
One of the greatest challenges of team building is getting people to relinquish their selfish ego-driven desire for personal gain and replace it with a selfless drive to help the team flourish. Legendary coach John Wooden said, “It’s amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit.” The only way to help people transform from selfishness to selflessness is by showing how much you care for them. The goal is getting them to forget about worrying about their own “backs” and, instead, keeping them focused on caring for each other and the team goals. It takes time, transparency, consistency and thoughtfulness to prove to others that you have their “backs,” but when you succeed at proving to them how much you care about them, then they will start proving how much they will dare for you. Caring leads to daring. Seek ways to connect with your teammates — to understand their challenges and pressures not only during the workday but also in their personal lives. People are not robots, they have emotions that drive their behaviors. Unstoppable Teams are powered by care.
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