Henry Ford, “Coming together is the beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”
When I was 20 years old, I received the most devastating news. I’ll never forget the doctor’s face, as she said, “I’m sorry but you have cancer.” Granted it was one of the mildest forms, Hodgkins Lymphoma, and it was caught early enough to treat effectively, I was crushed never-the-less. I underwent radiation therapy, which successfully treated my condition and I have thankfully been fine ever since. So, how does this relate to team building? Well, for the first time in my short adult life, I looked at life and teams completely differently. Up until this point, I never saw an ‘A’ at the University of Toronto unless it was on a friend’s paper. I did manage to get an ‘A’ on my second year final exams, while I was ‘sick’ and only looking back did I fully understand why. See, before being diagnosed my attitude was predominantly, ‘what’s in it for me?’. But when I saw how difficult being diagnosed with cancer was for my family, I experienced a shift in my thinking. It became clear to me that if I want to finish first in life, I need to put myself second. See I didn’t get an ‘A’ in Uni because I wanted to feel a sense of accomplishment or because I wanted to do better than someone else in my class. I got the ‘A’ for one reason and one reason only – because I desperately wanted to put a smile on my family’s face. I’ll never forget when I shared the news with them. I said, “I got my first A.” My dad’s face lit up brighter than a Christmas tree and my mom got all choked up and cried. Till this day, I believe that what’s missing in teams is an attitude of servitude, an attitude of selflessness and an attitude of putting yourself second, so that as a team you can finish first.