Teamwork Makes the Dream Work… But How?

A few years back, I did a series of lessons in our Leading At The Next Level program combining some things that stuck out to me when I re-read John Maxwell’s book, The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork, with several experiences I had lived through in my own career since reading it for the first time nearly fifteen years prior. While I certainly believe those provide some solid steps for crafting stronger teams, I think it’s time we take a look at the idea of teamwork from a different perspective; one that really dives into how it really can make the dream work… Before I get started on that though, I’d like to invite you to take advantage of this 14 day trial so you can kick the tires on Leading At The Next Level for just $1. With more than 80 lessons now in the digital library and two new live lessons shared each month just before we add them to the digital platform, all of which are approved for continuing education credit through the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI), I’d guess you’ll find far more that serves than just those three lessons tied back to the laws of teamwork…

So how in the world can teamwork make the dream work? To that end, what does it take to make any dream work?

Cindy and I recently hosted the first session in our fourth annual Executive Leadership Elite Think where we work with 12 to 15 business owners and high level executives to build stronger leadership cultures within their organizations. At one point during the four hours we were all together, I made a comment about how important it is for me and CIndy that each of them be able to pull something from that time that translates directly to increased profitability within their organizations. Profitability is critical for every business owner I’ve ever met and no one in that group had any leads on where the rest of us could find one of those trees that all the free money grows on - not even the owner of Waynesboro Landscape & Garden Center… Heck, even the member of that group who works in the public section knew how important it is to work within a budget! (He’s clearly not in politics, huh!!!)

With that said, what does it take to make any dream work? In every scenario I’ve ever seen, it takes money! More specifically, operating in whatever industry we’re in and producing enough profit to fund those dreams! I realize some folks could argue this point, saying that investing time and effort into our dreams is just as important. I get that.. But I’m generalizing all of that into the idea of profit here because I believe those three things - time, effort, and money - have very direct ties to one another.

If you’re still tracking with me on the importance of producing a profit (in one fashion or another), I’ll challenge you to think back to a stat from the Harvard Business Review that I shared recently in Why is Employee Engagement Really Important referencing how much employee engagement can positively and negatively impact profitability; “organizations with a high level of engagement report 22% higher productivity.” You’re welcome to check out the details that back that statement on that same page if you like… My point here is that employee engagement directly impacts productivity but it stems from teamwork.

I recently found this statement in an article called Maximize Your Business Profit with High Performing Teams that ties the engagement directly to teamwork: 

“19,000 worldwide workers found that employees who reported they felt a “strong sense of teamwork” described themselves as “fully engaged”.

With that as our starting point, next time we’ll look at what we can each do to build the kind of teamwork in our organizations that really can make the dream work!