There are some team sports where the team members need to effectively work together to play the game, for example soccer, basketball or football. Each member of the team has a primary function. The Quarterback in Football is responsible for throwing or handling off the ball, but that individual needs teammates who are capable of catching the ball or running to the end zone, in order for the team to score points and win. Even if the quarterback chooses to run the ball himself, he needs the other members of his team to block for him to assure he can run unimpeded.
There are other sports where the team members are primarily individual contributors. They can win their individual event even if the team doesn’t win overall. Examples include runners in track, wrestlers, or ‘singles’ tennis players.
In fact, in many of the individual contributor sports, the athlete must compete against his or her teammates to achieve a seeding which affects whether they even get to compete. In many wrestling matches only one athlete per weight class gets to compete. In Tennis the seeding determines who plays whom in a match and the person ranked the best has an advantage.
How important is team spirit and cohesiveness in sports where there is motivation to compete against and beat your own teammates to assure you can participate in competition? From my perspective, someone who has played both types of sports, it is extremely important!
When members of a team support one another, whether it be through cheering them on to beat an opponent, or consoling them if they lose, it improves the team members motivation and spirit. When the whole team is together, travelling to an away meet or after the event in the locker room, it is the team cohesiveness that will lend positive support to those who won and most importantly, those who lost. If a track or wrestling team is at a meet, in addition to the individuals winning or losing their individual events, there is usually a team score, and a team that wins the meet. The joy and exhilaration of being part of the winning team is much greater than simply winning an individual event. It’s the difference between celebrating alone or celebrating with your mates. It’s also the difference between being alone after a loss, or having the support of your mates to lessen the pain of the loss.
These concepts translate to business in that there are both teams and individual contributors at work. This will be the subject of another snippet!