When many talk of teamwork, they talk of people working together to meet some common goal. However, this is a rather simplified notion and fails to explain how to go from being an individual to working effectively as a team.
When it comes to teamwork, there is also a lot of talk of good communication, set-up of leadership to avoid conflict, various position descriptions, etc., but so little talk about individual roles, being he/she the leader or one of the members.
Fact is, the best teams are made up of team-minded individuals. These individuals not only use their strengths to fulfill various duties, but will do other tasks beyond their role in order to assure a successful outcome. This may mean a 'leader' doing 'grunt work' or a 'grunt' taking on leadership responsiblities if a situation calls for it. The individual team member must be willing and able to adapt to changing situations in order to support the team in whatever areas need help. Initial assigned duties may allow for ease of starting, but the best teams are far more fluid, with members adjusting their roles as necessary, supporting where other members may have weakness and accepting support where one has one's own shortcomings. Every individual in a team in responsible for the team's success.
As a member of a team, one doesn't just do one's duty; one does whatever it takes to help lead the team towards its goals. If one can give help, one gives it. If one needs help, one asks for it. When working in a team, one must always keep in mind the overall team's goals and adjust one's role to maximize the likelihood of success. If one gets caught up in things like "I'm doing more than him. This is unfair and he should work harder", this is simply a sign of selfishness and the breeding ground for blame and team failure. In teamwork, even if one has completed one's assigned job, it is futile if the team has failed in its overall objective. In a successful team, one must accept there are times one will be taking on the lion's share of the task as there will be other times when one will be needing the assistance from other members. As a member of a team, your success is tied to the team's success; nothing more and nothing less. Thus, the individual *IS* the most important part of the team as it takes team-minded individuals to bring a team to victory.
This holds true, not only on the water warfare field, but in all aspects of group work in life.
Soak on!
