Teams must grow; teams cannot be simply appointed and anointed. We may have a designated group that evolves into a team, but this emergent phenomenon takes time. It takes time to discover the strengths and weakness if each member of the group, understanding that ultimately transforms into trust, the backbone value/concept for any successful team. We don’t have to like each other, but if we understand how far we can rely on each other’s capability, then we have begun the trust process.

We know we are on a team when we begin to pull together almost without thinking. In one situation, of us was part of a 13 person group and six of us decided, for our own employment survival, to pull the other seven worthless members along with us. The six of us became a team, brought together by a common goal.

What attributes can portend success? Trust is number one. We would also like to see:

• Courtesy
• Genuine caring about members and the project
• Flexibility
• The ability to know when to put in that extra effort, if needed
• A common goal.

Team can be a lot of fun and one of the most gratifying experiences we can have in the workplace.