The Challenge of Teamwork

As a leader in the workplace one of the challenges I have faced over the years is building a cohesive team amongst my peers. I often wonder sometimes what is takes to build a winning team. A winning team for me are people that are willing to work together rather than independently. I have been in the workforce since I was 16 years old. The place I have seen cohesion the most was when I went to Basic Combat Training. We did not have a choice in the matter. We had to work together as a team. It did not matter whether we liked one another or not, we all had the same goals as a group.?We were being trained for something much bigger. I remember the day I stepped off the bus for Basic Combat Training, in no time I was being yelled at by drill sergeants. The Army was a place where they expected you to hit the ground running. For many of us it was a career opportunity, for others it meant something else; however, what we were being trained for was a really important mission. We knew if we ever went to war our mindset had to be strong and we had to work with one another. In no time we made lifelong friends who can now laugh and share those stories of our past life in the Army Reserves. When I came to the working world, it was totally different. I had worked on several jobs temporarily and had never had an issue with teamwork. My first fulltime job was at a nursing home. The best part of working at the nursing home was being amongst women of wisdom. They were older women who had lived their lives and many of them had a story to tell. I was the youngest person on my work crew; therefore, maturity was at an all-time high. I had leaders that were like mother figures to me. They told me when I was wrong and how I needed to improve myself. I worked hard and I loved them because they instilled in me the value of respecting others, staying positive, and being consistent with my work. I had to greet several people daily because my job involved taking patients their daily meals. I was on a mission and my role was to make sure I delivered those meals to patients and pick up their trays when they were done eating. When I left Palmyra Nursing Home I went off to college and my next stop after college was Basic Combat Training. After I finished Advance Individual Training, I went to an Army Reserved Training Center in Montgomery Alabama, which led me to joining the 377QM in Tifton, Georgia. I do not recall a time where we were so disengaged, we could not work together. I do recall a time where I may have been a bit rebellious, but I have to admit I had some of the best leaders ever. Perhaps I was rebellious for a reason. I did not know that one day I would meet me again. Trust me, you will always meet you at some point in your career and it will help you understand other people better. You will understand how to adapt to another person’s behavior because that was once how you behaved. ?Leadership requires maturity. ?

Leadership is a call you must be willing to accept and in receiving the invitation you must be willing to face the challenges that comes with it. There is nothing like inequity and division on a team. It is almost like seeing a tornado destroy a home and you being the one to have to put it back together. What if every time a home was destroyed in our neighborhood, we had to build it back ourselves to keep our property value from declining? It would require everyone to work together as a team and someone on the team may know more than the rest; however, that person’s willingness to be inclusive would help get the task completed. That person must be willing to invest in others who may not have the same skillset he has. Building requires a solid foundation. A solid foundation allows us to build for the future.?When I came to work in the field of policing, I had solid leaders who were authentic but they did not know anything about being inclusive. ?Don’t get me wrong there were a lot of great leaders and a lot of people with great skills and talents.?What we missed out on was being inclusive and being cohesive, which caused us to form groups of the Haves and the Have Nots.?Over the years I found myself wanting to grow and learn but I had so many obstacles weighing against me. ?Some people saw my worth and others did not.?If I did not line up with what people thought I should be, I was simply not given the opportunity to excel and learn new things.?As a leader I often tell this story to my daughter and young people everywhere. “No only means no if you accept it.”?Invest in yourself one small step at a time.?If someone tells you No, tell yourself Yes.?Another person’s no should always be your yes.?I share this because there were many times I accepted no as an answer.?No held me back from many things and today I use my voice to instill in others what the value of Yes means.?It does not mean getting something you are not ready for by any means necessary, it simply means preparing yourself by continuing to improve yourself as a leader and a person.?If you lack understanding in something, learn it even if you do not have to use the skills for what you are doing in your career right now. As a leader in this new era, I see more people being competitive rather than inclusive and cohesive.?Some people are not really willing to work together unless they can stand out front.?People are confused about their educational background; therefore, they count everyone out that they feel does not add up to them.?Education is good and it is necessary, but there are some very talented people in our workforce that may not have the educational background we expect them to have.?I have learned many things from people who do not carry a title nor a certain position; however, they are very passionate about the work they do.?When I find these types of people in the workplace, I like to encourage them to go farther.?Perhaps when we encourage them and invest our time focusing on how they can benefit the workforce, then they will decide to pursue other goals such as getting a college degree or attending training which will benefit their future.?This is the solid foundation I would like to leave behind when I leave the workforce.?I consider myself a motivational leader that encourages the growth of others.?When you come to the same rank as others you have grown with in an organization, sometimes you will find that they work very hard to gain a gold medal and to stay on top. It becomes a competitive process; however, we should all be preparing others for something better. Competition can be a nasty process in leadership because competitive leaders need followers; therefore, they will try to pick people that will side with them.?When this happens, it will often times cause them to spread rumors and lies about you.?It reminds me of politics.?Just as politicians bash one another before an election date, so does leaders in organizations who desire to get ahead. It’s nothing wrong with wanting to accomplish success; however, problems come when leaders become self-center.?One day I asked a co-worker if he could assist with a task and I was bewildered at how offensive that co-worker became. He begin to give me his entire resume’. What I was doing was being inclusive but that co-worker gave me an entire resume’ and then begin to tell me how many years of experience he had under his belt.?I have seen people read off their years of college, the number of contacts they have, and the number of assignments they are given.?It is all focused on individual results and it is not inclusive.?This can be a challenge when you are working with leaders who do not believe in being cohesive and sometimes you get attacked for asking them to participate in something you are working on. ?How do you get this group of leaders to be inclusive and cohesive??It can be a challenge because sometimes they will not buy into your ideas because they do not think you have earned their accolades.?There’s nothing like working with a person that constantly reminds you of all the things they have and all the things you do not have.?It diminishes trust because you do not know how that person feels about you.?Inclusion, diversity, and equity are very important in a workplace.?We have to understand that people are very different but everyone has something to offer.?Being inclusive allows everyone a voice at the table and equity allows us the opportunity to be fair.?Diversity tells us that we’re all different and we share a unique group of talents that can be put together to bring forth awesome results.