Monthly Archives: May 2021

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“Coming together is the beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success” – Henry Ford. 

Some people believe that working alone signifies strength. There is a place for being recognized as someone who has achieved a remarkable feat. However, working with a group of people always produces the best result for sustainable success. Many successful people in the world today worked with other people in teams. The strength of unity and cooperation can achieve a lot more than a lone ranger. An American investor, George Shinn, once said that there are no self-made men; instead, one reaches his goal with the help of others. Here are some reasons why working alone is problematic.

 

LIMITED PRODUCTIVITY

When you work alone, what you can achieve is limited because of your limited abilities and knowledge. You have only one perspective to developing an idea as opposed to working with other people. When more people bring diverse ideas or different perspectives to the table, they help create the concept better. Different and varied opinions from various individuals will undoubtedly lead to a more significant success if there is a good organization, unlike when the thoughts come from one person alone.

 

LIMITED ACCURACY AND EFFICIENCY

Another monumental problem of working alone is that it reduces accuracy, efficiency, and performance. Let’s say B2SL wants to host a party, and only one moderator oversees the planning, looking for the venue, choosing the dress code, organizing entertainment, refreshments, and other activities. It will be complicated for this person to plan perfectly and accurately. But if all the moderators have specific duties, we see that the performance would be optimum because everyone’s skill is at work. The rate at which two or more people do a job is higher than that of one person doing the same thing.  Working as a group or with others brings division of labor which improves efficiency and performance.

 

MONOTONY

Monotony means a lack of interest and a variety of tedious routines and repetition. When a person does things alone, a point will come when he would be stressed out and bored of the job. But if there is a division of labor, there will be little or no stress. Just think about the idea of one person doing a job that ought to be done by three different people. It will only take some time before the stress comes. There is more fulfillment when there is teamwork since each team member works to progress that same aim. As the saying goes, variety is the spice of life. So, when there are diverse ideas and more hands and minds working for a particular goal, stress, and boredom are eliminated.

 

LOSS OF FOCUS

When you work alone, you may quickly lose focus, deviate from your original plan, or get discouraged because you have no team members to encourage you. The energy that others bring into the team can inspire you to bring out your best and help you focus on your goal. The truth is, achieving things all by yourself is not an easy task, and you must look for ways to bring other people into your work for a smoother ride to success.

Let’s endeavor to work in teams for more success. As Helen Keller said, “Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.”

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Victoria Aiyedusho and Noble Uzoagba are post secondary school students in Nigeria. They are dedicated to success in their academics and future career. They are members of B2SL Success Hub.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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“If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” – Henry Ford.

Right from the first week’s blog post of May 2021, we have seen that we cannot build anything significant without teamwork. Therefore, it is crucial to know how to mobilize or form a team to change the world from whatever level you are. 

Mobilizing a team that will be successful can be tough to achieve as some people may still be struggling with the team’s vision. You will have to be patient with people to allow them to learn and grow. When mobilizing a team, you must be clear with what you want to achieve with the team. You will then know the kind of people you need in the group. What should their belief or value system be? What should their interests be? What skills should they have? You wouldn’t want to employ the services of a doctor to build a house, would you? If you’re going to form a band of musicians, you look for people who can sing and not people who can farm!

Let’s assume you are trying to get a group of your classmates together to prepare for a forthcoming examination. The first thing you do is write the goal down to know what you are trying to achieve. You then go on to mobilize a team of reading partners that can make this possible. After that, you develop a group contract which is a written or unwritten document that defines the aspirations of every member in the group. In countries, this is called a constitution. In your case, your chosen students should be hard-working, punctual, willing to learn, and ready to abide by the rules of the group.

Because there are so many subjects you take; your team should have people interested in the same topic. There’s no use studying in the same group comprising Physics and Literature students, so you don’t have to be reading and asking questions from people who are not learning the same thing as you. The values and pursuits of those in your group should be the same as yours. I have personally met students who get tired after reading for 30 minutes and some that can read for 2 to 3 hours straight without getting tired. You need to know about these different skills. Some are more comfortable reading late at night, while some prefer reading during the day. Therefore, it is better to form a team with students who have similar reading or studying habits as you.

Mobilizing a successful team is worth it, and I will love to hear about your experience in mobilizing a team in the past or how you intend to mobilize one going forward. 

 

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Charles Adimah is an entrepreneur and the Project Manager of B2SL INITIATIVE, where he manages the vision. He is a great believer that a prosperous Nigeria is a product of successful Nigerians. You can reach him via email at charles@b2sl.org.

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“None of us is as smart as all of us.” – Ken Blanchard.

All teams have more than one person, and the most successful teams are the ones that have their members contributing their best to the team effort. No team can succeed without good players. Think about your favorite football or basketball team. You don’t have to be a professional footballer to be a team player. You belong to a team if you come together to do an assignment, sing in a choir, belong to a debate group, etc. If you want your teams to be successful, here are some ways you can be a good team player.

 

UNDERSTAND YOUR ROLE 

As a team member, you must understand what your role is in the team. Remember, everyone on the team is essential. Imagine a game of football, for example. The goalkeeper’s role is to prevent the other team from scoring. The goalkeeper’s role is not to score goals for his team. You may have watched a football match where a goalkeeper left his goalpost and conceded a goal. Whatever your role is in your team, ensure you put in the best of your ability. Some functions in a group might seem unimportant, but if you do not take them seriously, you obstruct the team’s goal. And if you have roles in a team you don’t understand, ensure you seek clarification from the leaders.

 

RESPECT OTHERS IN YOUR TEAM

Working with a team means there will be varying opinions and ideas. Even if you think your idea is best, you must respect the beliefs and values of other people. Understand that people will always be different, but their difference does not stop them from being part of a team. People can have different religious beliefs or come from a diverse ethnic group or belong to a different gender. Even if you don’t belong to the same team, you must respect other people’s views. You cannot work together for a common cause when there is no respect. 

 

HOLD YOURSELF ACCOUNTABLE

When you are in a team, you must be willing to be accountable to yourself. Holding yourself responsible means ensuring that you complete your part of the job, no matter how small you think the task is. Your role in your team may be to call people, register names, or welcome people. Take responsibility for your assignments and if you make mistakes, look for solutions rather than blame other people in the team. Understand that your actions impact the entire group. In doing so, you will learn from your errors and command more respect from your team.

 

FOCUS ON THE TEAM’S GOALS

It is good to distinguish yourself as a top performer poised for greatness, but ultimately remember that you are in a team and a goal you should be working to achieve. It could be a group assignment, a presentation, or preparation for a competition. Ensure that you put the team’s interest above yours because there can be no progress if you don’t. A major challenge facing developing countries like Nigeria is the overemphasis on self-interest.

If you want to be a world-changer, you must be a team player and work for the overall interest of your teams. Take the challenge to be a better team player and be a positive impact on the world. 

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Henry Ibrahim is the Content Creator at B2SL. He loves working with young people to help them discover their purpose in life. You can contact him at ibrahim@b2sl.org.

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“Individual commitment to a group effort–that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” –Vince Lombardi

You may be very outstanding at what you do. For instance, you may be the best student in your class, or the best singer in your group, or the best player in your team. You may win prizes and have the whole world recognize you. Having that level of recognition is commendable, but you must learn how to work in a team if you want extraordinary results.

A team is a group with a common goal, and if you look around you, you will find that you inevitably belong to a team or group. You are a member of your family group, your class, church or mosque, village, local government, state, and country. In some cases, you don’t choose the groups you belong to—for example, your family, ethnic group, or country. However, your goal should be to work for the success of your groups.

Have you seen how ants work? They usually come together to take on more challenging tasks. When an ant tries to lift a crumb of biscuit and discovers it can’t do it alone by its effort, the ant looks for other ants to help it out. Before long, what seemed impossible for one ant to do becomes easy when other ants contribute their energy. Don’t despise members’ commitment to a group or the power of every group member committing a little of their effort to the same goals. Success becomes more accessible with such a mindset.

Part of the problem of being in a group is that the other members of your group may not be behaving how you want. But the onus is on you, who has the knowledge to do the right thing always. Because everyone in your class is not studying to pass but depending on others to help them pass should not stop you from learning. When you behave differently from the other members of a group who do the wrong things, you mark yourself out for greatness. Your right actions will inspire someone else, and before long other people will follow suit. It will then become easier to succeed when more people in your group behave in the same way. These things can be as simple as the members of your group being polite.

As the quote above implies, you must be committed to a group effort if you want things to work. When you are in a group, and things are not working the way you want, ask yourself if you are working in the group’s interest. For instance, you have a group assignment in your class, and your part is to research the project while the other people write it up. Failure is inevitable if you don’t do your part because your other group members will not have anything to write on. Groups or teams function because the individual members are committed to the efforts of the group.

Do you want your family, class, team, community, state, or country to succeed or work? You must play your part, which may be as essential as doing the right thing even if every other person is doing otherwise. Be part of the solution and not a problem to your group.

I know this topic is huge so let’s hear your questions and comments in the comments section below.

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Besidone Ebule is the Project Director at B2SL, where he works to encourage personal development and build success networks. You can contact him at bessy.ebule@b2sl.org.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][/vc_column][/vc_row]