The Team Formula

As I experienced and observed different kinds of leadership, I have concluded the two essential components of a team. Firstly, the coordination within the team; this factor is the result of the character in the group, including honesty, empathy, humility, behavior, and professionalism; to its extent, this is about relationships.

The second component is the team’s contribution; this factor includes the particular and necessary skills of the team to achieve its goals; it is the active participation and willingness of the people to offer value to the team; to its extent, this is about excellence.

Different kinds of leadership produce varieties of teams. Let us explore the different types of teams based on the formula of coordination and contribution.

1. The Poor Team: This group constitutes low coordination and contribution. Everyone does not have mutual trust and does not contribute to achieving the goal — let alone possessing the necessary character and skills.
2. The Comfort Team: This group is more about relationships and does not have any progress in achieving the team’s objective. It prioritizes psychological safety without challenging the group’s performance.
3. The Toxic Team: This group focuses highly on metrics and objectives to the extent of sacrificing relationships. Everyone works to contribute without giving caution to the team’s character in the process.
4. The Perfect Team: This group achieves healthy coordination and active contribution of everyone. They can work well as a gateway to achieving goals and acquiring metrics without immolating the team’s relationships.

Clearly, everyone does not desire to be in the poor team. In reality, leaders and members belong either to the comfort or toxic team. The perfect team is also not humanly achievable because people do not possess perfection. Teams undergo character and skills development, which both need to be regularly synced in the group’s operation. As such, teams go through alteration of their leaders or members, again, this is where the team finds its newfound status to make a fresh start. As a result, the perfect team only serves as the ultimate aim of leaders and members in the realm of the infinite game.

If the perfect team is unachievable, what could be the defining terms for the ideal team?

The last kind of team is The Archetype Team; this group has middle-level coordination and contribution. They overcome the obstacles of staying in the poor or comfortable status, as well as possessing the caution of not becoming toxic. The Archetype Team leaves room for improvement in their character to boost healthy coordination (i.e., learning to be humble, honest, empathetic, and professional) and development of skills to foster active contribution (i.e., learning communication, creativity, accounting, time management, etc.). Lastly, this kind of team acknowledges the infinite game in achieving the perfect team. They embrace the reality of not obtaining its trophy but still forge their path to reach it. Hence, they become the archetypal or ideal team.

Everyone does not want to be in a poor, comfortable, or toxic team. However, the perfect team seems impossible; instead of solely achieving it, let us establish the archetype team; the ideal team with a harmonious balance of coordination from relationship and contribution from excellence.

What kind of team are you in right now?