There should be "I" in Teams

I was having a discussion with a colleague who swallows his “I” in sentences and he said I have always been taught and I believe "There is no I" in a team

Well I argue there needs to be “I”

Importance -do we feel valued in the team and do we have a voice – in these times of COVID people cannot be expected to martyr themselves for the larger good without understanding “Why” – colleagues rise to the occasion when you are truthful,transparent and trust them with information – they want to know they count/matter and are co-opted into the decision process.

Initiative – are we encouraged to solve for the “How”. Are we provided latitude to make mistakes and are our lessons from them applauded? Again in times like these allowing members to take initiative makes them feel they are part of the team and can contribute to it being better than the sum of its parts.

Insurgence – COVID has provided all of us perspective – to appreciate the world around us, to value the people in our lives and also a possibility to reinvent ourselves and the business models we have operate in. The Education industry is all set for disruption and it’s a huge opportunity to think about how we educate young children. Yesterday in a “stand up” (was more a slouch on the sofa) with our tech team I was amazed at the ideas that they spoke about – how do we enable these ideas to percolate and foster the energy and continue to remain relevant as brands.

Individual – I would rank this as the highest “I” in the list – does a member of the team feel that their individual needs and situations are understood and that we are empathetic to them. As organizations we are getting to a place where we will have 3 to 4 generations working for us – each with individual characteristics and among them further nuanced at the person level.

The needs of women and families have come to life (even more) in these times of COVID – how we do understand and make each person feel unique and supported

To the colleague who swallows his “I”s – you know who you are and I hope you remember that “I” is truly important if we as a team have to succeed :)