Building Teams Blog Series #3 of 3 - Be a Trusted Teammate

Building Teams #3

Be a Trusted Teammate

 I’m sure most of you reading this have been on some team in your growing-up years.  It could have been a club in high school or a school sport either during your school years or after.  When Douglass MacArthur was the Superintendent at West Point during the mid-war years, he directed that every West Point cadet participate in some team sport – whether it was intercollegiate, club, or intramural - because he personally observed units that operated with great teamwork, and leaders who could lead physically, mentally and morally, were far more successful dealing with the challenges of war in the crucible of ground combat.  His famous quote emphasized the importance of being part of a team.  “On the fields of friendly strife are sown the seeds, that on other days, on other fields will bear the fruits of victory.”  Quite simply, learning how to be a trusted member of a team was crucial to the leadership development of future Army officers.

One of the most influential and memorable motivating talks about the comradery within teammates is England’s King Henry V’s speech during the Hundred Year’s War between England and France.  Perhaps the most quotable and motivating line from that speech that teammates can relate to is, “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.”  Henry V was outnumbered facing the French Army in a battle known as the Battle of Agincourt, and to motivate his men going into this battle, he delivered his famous “Saint Crispin” speech.  Shakespeare wrote a play about the life of Henry V, and focused on Henry’s great speech that led to a British victory.  Henry V’s words truly illustrate the comradery, love, loyalty and commitment between teammates as a result of shared hardships over many days and many trials and challenges.   

From loyalty within teammates, you will find love, passion, and the commitment to never, ever, leave your brother or sister in a fight without fully committing yourself to stand by him or her, shoulder to shoulder, even if it means that you will die doing so.  It is a character trait that is born from shared hardships, which creates a commitment to your teammate that is even stronger than a commitment you would have with your own blood brother or sister. 

This is the loyalty and commitment you would want within your organization or unit. It is this bond that enables organizations to achieve what before was infeasible, and to accomplish what previously seemed impossible.  If you’ve been around teams for a while, you’ll notice that this bond of brotherhood and sisterhood is not always there, and to me, that was always a concerning situation.  I saw it often, especially in my time outside the military, with organizations that had polarizing leadership of mistrust and failure. 

I recall when I was once on a brigade-level staff for a brigade that had six subordinate battalion-level commands, and I had a unique opportunity to observe the leadership style of each of the subordinate battalion commanders and how they worked together as a team.  These battalion commanders - except for one - were as close as can be.  As much as they tried to pull in the one commander who insisted on going his own way, he was just not responsive.  The divisiveness between commanders also played out internally within this one commander’s own battalion.  He created such a polarizing environment that even his own subordinate commanders felt that they were either on his team or were an outcast because they couldn’t meet the boss’ expectations.  This was an enlightening lesson to me, because when we don’t work together as a team, when teammates elect to go their own way, a polarizing and divisive climate is created and the ability to accomplish the mission is degraded.    

In the military’s personnel evaluation program, commanders have to rank-order their subordinates.  All commanders take this duty seriously and will normally give pre-evaluation counseling at the beginning of the evaluation period.  When I first met with my subordinate commanders for their initial counseling, I told them unequivocally that I expected them to work together as a team in everything they did.  I wanted them to look out after each other, to cover each other’s flank and backside, and to seek opportunities to help them with resources, people or whatever. 

This was more than just helping out your teammate.  I saw that leaders who could not get along with their teammates had a character issue that was imbedded with selfishness, haughtiness, and an ego out of control. 

Because of the subordinate forced-rankings, the Army’s evaluation system does not necessarily incentivize subordinates to work together, and quite often, subordinates are incentivized to take advantage of any situation that extols their unit over their peers.  Don’t get me wrong.  Healthy competition is always a healthy motivator to improve.  But to not work or communicate and help your teammate is simply the wrong way to make your unit shine over the others.  Although this may be a natural reaction, I told my subordinate commanders that if I saw any of them not being the teammate we need and expect, that I did not care how talented they were, that I considered this a haughty character defect which is in conflict with what we expect in building teams and winning in peace and in war.  My evaluation would ensure this was the last rank and the last command they would ever achieve. 

Being a great teammate brings average units to achieve incredible accomplishments, simply because they do not care who gets the credit.  Great accomplishments within selfless teammates are a result of shared hardships, trust, and commitment.  Trust and commitment create bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood where loyalty is greater than even the loyalty towards your own blood brother and sister.  Loyalty and honor.  Build this within your organization and watch how far you really can go.