The Success Of The Team

There is no doubt that a successful event is the result of synergetic cooperation among all stakeholders. The result never comes from the individual, but from a team working towards the same goal.

I like to underline the difference between a team and a group: all teams are groups, but the reverse is not always true. The word “team” refers to a cohesive group of people who are similar, yet different, who share a sense of belonging, work towards a common goal, coordinate individual strengths in a positive atmosphere, but have different roles, complementary skills and competences. 

For a team to function, communication has a very strong power, if it is inadequate there will not be an adequate information flow. Communication must be open, fluid, clear and sincere. To work well in a team, it is necessary to create an environment of mutual trust based on strong working relationships; each team member is held accountable to his or her teammates for the results.

Another key point is to work on leadership, to cultivate a spirit of cooperation and internal dialogue, to aim for standards of excellence that motivate people, to always seek external support for recognition, to foster the commitment and initiative of all team members and to build a working environment in which there is synchrony. The team manager must establish credible leadership. The focus must be on developing, motivating, encouraging, training and improving people’s skills and competences by identifying trained members and well-defined roles. 

It is important to understand and be aware of each individual’s strengths and weaknesses, and to be able to integrate all inputs: smart managers know that they cannot do everything themselves and that they have to build great teams by exploiting the complementary roles, skills and competences of each employee.

Faced with great performance, we are inclined to think that the person who put it in place is “an alien”, “a monster”, a “superhero”. We are wrong. There are no powers coming from another planet or suddenly manifesting after the bite of an insect. There are extraordinarily normal people, who with hard work, commitment, sometimes sacrifice, renunciations, failures, missed opportunities and whatever else, together achieve amazing goals. 

Although I hate to say it, superheroes do not exist!