Most of us at some point in our lives have been part of a team.  Maybe it was a sports team, maybe it was in the workplace.  Regardless of the nature of the task, when you get a group of people together working towards a common goal, you have yourself a team. 

Some people prefer being part of a team and some people prefer to be a solo act.  You may have heard the saying: One single draft horse can pull about 8,000 lbs., but when you put two draft horses pulling the same load, they don’t only pull twice their own weight, they can pull THREE times their own weight. So, in this example, the sum of the two horses together vastly dwarfs the production that the individual horse may achieve on their own. 

If being part of a team can vastly improve your productivity, why doesn’t everyone prefer to be part of a team?  The truth is that it can be hard being part of a team. There are inevitable growing pains that happen when you get a group of people together. Rather than allowing the difficulties of working with others to interfere with productivity, it is important to recognize the normalcy of it. Obstacles that go along with working as a team should be expected and embraced. 

As the former Scout Master of Troop 511, I attended a leadership training called Wood Badge. At that training I learned that there are three phases in situations that require a team effort: Storming, Norming, and Performing.  All groups go through these phases and one will find that the time spent in each phase will vary.  It could take minutes or days, sometimes even weeks or months.  But, if managed properly, the team will move through the Storming Phase, when everyone is feeling each other out and trying to flex their muscles.  After this comes the Norming Phase, in which team members are making sacrifices and trying to get along for the good of the team.  Lastly, a team is able to reach the Performing Phase, in which the team members are supporting each other and all playing to their own strengths and working together to reach a common goal.

If a team is able to navigate through these phases, it is likely that individuals will maximize their contributions and the group as a whole will find success.