'Ask not what your team can do for you - ask what you can do for the team!'

In this slightly rewritten form it is probably easy to recognize Kennedy's quote from his famous speech in 1961.

What it says, is that we should refrain from constantly focusing on ourselves. Focusing on and cultivating individualism has more or less become the rule and this has been promoted in the media through programs such as Robinson, Paradise Hotel, various entrepreneur programs etc. where individualism is highly valued and praised. It all seems to be “let's see how YOU can become the World Champion - or how you can beat the others!”

I am not happy about this one-sided focus, and I am absolutely convinced it does not help us in the long run. And that is actually the issue here - being able to be in it for the long haul. Collaboration, working together, creates better and faster results and is ultimately more fun, more efficient and far more rewarding. Many people have proved this throughout history whether in sporting events or the business world. But if we all know and accept that then why is this team work thing so difficult then?

Actually it is not difficult providing people understand the important areas and necessary measures that are required in order to truly function as a team.

Do you have a vision that everyone understands?
If there ever was one thing that binds a team together, it is a common goal. In reality there is no team without a common objective. No common objective - no team; call the group something else then, but not don’t use the word “team.”

The objective has to be appealing, preferably very ambitious and of course realistic. For some working groups this task is easy, e.g. in the sports world, where 'visions' unifying teams often sound like this; 'we want to become the Danish Champions, Nordic Champions, World Champions or ultimately Olympic Champions". This is easy to relate to, it is ambitious and - depending on the level of skill - very appealing. When the path towards realising the vision is planned, it is done based on conditions which the team can influence itself. This is where the realistic perspective comes in. If the future is based on conditions where we do not exert any influence on, success will depend on luck - and you cannot base the future on luck.


When the objective is phrased as clearly as in the example above, it also becomes easier for the team's most important partners to understand it. It must not just be the team working on the vision that understands it - this is critical. The people and groups closest to the team must also understand the vision. The positive consequence of this is that the team gets support and assistance to help them achieve the vision.

Do you wonder if the dream will have a greater chance of coming true, if all of this is in place?

There are of course numerous other conditions which much be in place to create top performing and winning teams. But the first basic steps must be in place before going into depth with other initiatives for optimising the team.

SAS went flying - a real life story

Victor Feddersen tells about a concrete experience with a customer company:

'I came into contact with one of SAS' extrovert divisions some years ago. In 2004-5 the company was really struggling. But even though the company's management was in shock and were reactive, this division and its superiors decided to say;
“we want to change things.”

The division had been reduced by half, but decided to get the best out of the situation. The question was asked: “How do we become a spearhead?”

The decisive element was to assume responsibility. In the precarious situation time to discuss matters was made a priority: 'How do we perform optimally?' Professional competency was brought into play at a maximum level, and this is what team development is about: Having the guts to gamble!

As mentioned times were tough in the industry. A factor necessary to relate
to: 'What would we like to achieve in the future?' The division found some development areas, where it had a 100 % influence. This made it possible to discuss: “What can we do - ourselves? Of course there are things we can do better.”

This created self-confidence. It was a positive spiral. Successes were analysed, not failures. The division dared to discuss specifics; they became good at this and at being realistic. They continued to ask questions such as “what has slowed us down so far?” For example, in the charter business it was not possible to use the slogan 'the businessman’s airline', but readiness to change made it possible to think alternatively with the business at the core.

The important part was to do things together: It was not driven by executives or management groups. In the group there were 12 and it expanded to 30, but it was still a team, a natural working community.

There was also a personal aspect: What was the individual's agenda?
To open this up can be quite a challenge and one in which there needs to be mutual trust. For example:
'I am going to change this line of business within 3 years’ or 'my family will always be no. 1 to me.' These things you can relate to and be flexible around; but only if they are handled openly.

It proved successful and the result was a turn-around. Next came the biggest challenge of all – how to integrate marketing with sales. Then it was down to them to prove if they could manage this process by themselves. I observed them for a short time and saw how they worked together and was delighted by the results. Their team development had created a common language using key words such as ‘we’ and us'. And it lasted.'