Why my team is my biggest asset

This is an article I wrote in 2019, while working for ABB. Today I work for The Adecco group, but my views on the team has not changed, and in fact only strengthened.

At the start of my professional journey, little did I think of the role a team will have to play. I graduated from one of the premier institutes and I was a candidate of the prestigious leadership program of the organization I joined. I was full of myself and everything was about me.

I was the lone contributor. And all successes were attributed to me.

In 6 months I was moved on the rotation as the chief of staff of our then CEO of the business and I started the journey of realizing what a team was.

I went to lead a team after that assignment and from the elite school graduate, who had powerful connections in the organization, I stepped down to an average, ordinary individual. I stayed in a camp, with minimum facilities, a ladies toilet being 9 km away and I stayed with 17 men twice my age. This gave me my first insight into what a team can do for you. All of the 17 team mate, by the time I left the assignment, were ready to jump off the cliff for me. And I'd do the same for them. To helping pay the down payment for a first residence, to visiting their wives & children, I was part of their lives.

Fast forward 15 years from the first time I built a team of 17, working in the harsh conditions of Middle Eastern desert, today I have the honor of serving 2,000 very talented individuals around the world. Yet my definition of what a team is remains unchanged.

A team is a set of imperfect individuals, who are collectively perfect. A team brings out the best in each other.         

A team is not a group of individuals who reports to you or a group of individuals who are your peers, a team is a group of completely different people who come together to trust each other, who bring out the best in each other and share the same purpose.

1. Trust?- Trust is the underlying thread of a team. There is no team when there is no trust. A group of individuals where there is no trust can very easily turn the environment toxic. Lack of trust builds fear as well. Trust is built by being #inclusive, by making sure that every #voicematters.
2. Sharing the purpose?- I cannot overstate the importance of having a purpose and finding people who share the purpose. A purpose is always larger than individuals. And the people who share the purpose always put the purpose before their individual interests.
3. Bring out the best in each other?- A team is never a set of individuals who are perfect. A team is a set of imperfect individuals, who are collectively perfect. A team brings out the best in each other.

I have worked in several organizations, in several countries & cultures and in several roles. In everything I have done and I have accomplished so far, my team has always been my biggest asset.

Every year I do a get-together with families at my home. This is very symbolic for me in the sense that I open the doors to my home to completely who each individual is, together with opening my mind & heart of what they bring to the team. With the Covid pandemic, it was a roller coaster ride this year on whether we could all meet or not however we did make it happen. And this year, like most years was a diverse set of individuals - 7 nationalities in total, with so much diverse perspectives, yet completely coming together for a totally fun filled evening!

And nothing gives me more pleasure than cooking for the team, and being the chef & bartender for the evening.

What is your biggest asset? How do you build teams?