President's Desk with Joe Harverson

I have a clear memory of when I first started working as an adolescent. The situation seemed so completely black and white. There were those who worked hard and those who worked just enough to get by. When I entered college there were those who did “A” work and those with “C”s. Years later when I entered the professional work world I looked around and the situation was not very much different. There were obviously high quality producers and those who produced a barely useable product. I remember my first internal training on team building and working in teams. I was not impressed. I kept coming back to the mantra of one of my favorite writers, Ayn Rand, whose main character in The Fountainhead, Howard Roark, was informed by a friend that teams were just one strong leader and a lot of ballast that the leader had to drag along with him. This opinion was vindicated from my observations of the world around me. I was a solid individualist. I resisted working in teams and concentrated on producing a superior work product that was solely due to my brains and creativity. I consulted no one and asked no one for any help. I perceived getting help as a form of weakness. I was lucky to be successful for a long time and my opinion of teams stayed static.

When I entered into the world of management I saw the situation through a different lens. As an individual, I could only accomplish so much. No matter how excellent my work product was, I was limited. To accomplish great things or make serious strides took the effort of many individuals working in a coordinated fashion, a team. I was still skeptical. So many teams failed through infighting and just plain apathy. The teams I encountered were taught to relinquish their personal identity and assume a new group identity shared by all. Accolades and consequences were meted out equally amongst team members in the hope it would cause all members to work the same, hard, and smart. Every team member was expected to be the same and to conform to the group business rules. To me it seemed so constrained and de-motivating, but the real issue was clear. You needed groups of people to accomplish great things; one person could not go it alone.

How these people are brought together is a matter of great debate. I maintain that to bring these people together there must be an “I” and there must be a “Team” or nothing serious can be accomplished. The ideal team is a group of individuals with varying talents that produce their best possible work within the bounds of their talents. We would not assign Bruce to a team where he is to apply coatings, nor would we ask Kenny to run a perfect stainless weld bead. But when Bruce welds and Kenny coats, we get a superior product. That is why I have asked all of you to perfect your skills in one area so I can form teams of experts who are masters at their craft. When I assemble together the craft-masters amongst you and provide a goal there can be no other result than success. Be proud of your individual accomplishments and skills and appreciate the individual accomplishments and skills of others. If some people are called upon to use their talents to provide 80% of the effort for a successful job, support them. It is just as valuable to assist your teammates in making a goal as it is to make the goal yourself.

Keep your “I” and stay on the “Team”.