T.E.A.M. (Together Everyone Achieves More) Work
by Mary Grace Musuneggi
www.singlestepsstrategies.com
Sometimes, we all like working alone. That said, I have often seen people find greater success solving problems when they work with a partner.
The Princeton Weekly Bulletin reported in February of 2001 about experiments conducted by two Princeton economists which proved the old maxim that two heads are better than one. Two sets of experiments showed that groups made better decisions on average than individuals.
Some of us are self-motivated, and once we make the decision to go after something, we do. For others there needs to be a person behind us moving us along - a coach. Besides the obvious sports coaches, today there are people to coach us in every area in our life. There are career coaches, life coaches, fitness coaches, business coaches.
Sometimes they are called consultants; people who you can consult to get good input on how to reach your goals. Financial consultants, marketing consultants, investment consultants, make-up consultants.
To reach your personal goals, make a list of people that you think you could use to coach you or consult with you on how to take the right steps to your life goals.
Chances are that what you are trying to accomplish in your life has ben done before. Who do you know that has been down the road you want to follow? What qualities do they have that you need? How did they do what they did? Would they be willing to share their knowledge? Can you follow in their footsteps?
Read the “Richest Man in Babylon.” Learn the value of having mentors - a group of like-minded people who can inspire and fill the gaps in what you can and cannot do on your own.
Build a mastermind group. In Napoleon Hill’s book “Think and Grow Rich,” he demonstrates the value of having his own special group of people who have an interest in his success. If you don’t have all the skills you need, and most people do not, gather together a group of talented people who can complement your talents.
The best people for your group will be those who have a vested interest in you - people who will also benefit if you are successful. For instance, in my business I have people whom we count on to provide us with products and services for our business. The more successful we are, the more of their services we use. That means our success helps their success. So we have asked them to be part of our team. We started a program many years ago called “Friends Helping Friends.” We ask our clients and business associates to introduce us to their friends, family, organization members, and business associates. When they do and these people become our clients, we reward the introducing client with invitations to special events including our “Friends Helping Friends” gala event that is held every October.
Most of us already know many people who can help us, but for some of us we will have to go out and find those people. This is “networking,” a process to get you out in front of the people who have the information and skills to help you reach your goals. Sometimes this means joining a group with similar interest to yours. This can be social or business. Sometimes it just means being out in your community, involved in your church, attending classes at the local community college, or working to raise finds for a charity.
But the fact is, whenever have to go it alone. When we meet a challenge where we know we don’t know what we need to know; we need to find that person who knows what we don’t know and make them a part of our team.
The most successful people are those that know what they know and what they don’t know; and they surround themselves with a T.E.A.M. of people who fill in the blanks.
Mary Grace Musuneggi
Executive Director and Founder
January 2012
