Michael Jordan: “talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.”
Over the years, many leaders will affirm what Michael Jordan had to say about the effectiveness of teamwork, on the court, field, or in the corporate or operation settings. “Teamwork” has been defined before as the combined action of a group of people, especially when effective and efficient. But what would help us achieve the effectiveness and efficiency? A group of people gets thrown together and does their part dutifully? Will that be enough to achieve teamwork and win championships? I perhaps like this definition even more: teamwork is not a group of people who work together but a group of people who trust each other. This implies that for teamwork to occur, we need to trust each other, and with trust, comes relationships, with relationships comes unity for a common mission.
In recent survey, 86% of employees and executives cite lack of collaboration or ineffective communication for workplace failures. Statistics like this lead us to believe that we still have ways to go to create and nurture relationships that are of trust when working together. Under what environment would we cultivate trust? I was asked by a friend a little while ago of what I understood love is. My immediate response was my feeling towards a person. Her response (lack of full satisfactions) to my answer made me wonder if I have gotten that definition wrong. Through my maturity I begin to understand that love is a choice and action of what we do for one another. But have you ever witnessed love in actions but cannot feel the love that goes with that act of kindness? We cannot extend an act of kindness to those who are in need and slap a sign of love to it but cannot foster love in our heart for the person we are helping. Similarly, merely feeling love towards a person but not acting on that love will never mature those feelings.
Why am I talking so much about love? Because love is the foundation of trust; love is in how we feel AND how we act. Love is humbleness, which is thinking less of ourselves, and caring less about how we feel and what we like/don’t like, but is what we do for one another. Christ laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers 1 John 3:16. I tell you if someone is willing to lay down their life for me, there is a good chance I would trust them. Love for our brothers and sisters does not come from our rationale that it is the right thing to do nor from striving at it; this would merely be an attempt to modify our behaviors, and it is not long lasting. Instead we need a heart transformation, so that we may know in our heart that love comes from knowing that GOD LOVED US FIRST. Love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:7-8.
Dear God, I thank You for feeding me Your wisdom and revelation of Your perfect love. I pray that Your children would rest in Your perfect love, and our hearts will grow fonder and more humble so that we can extend Your love onto one another. I pray that Your love will permeate through us and will begin to unite teams and unite our nation. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.