When I think about teamwork, I think of a group of people working together to achieve a common objective.  In teamwork each person has their role and they subordinate themselves and their personal importance to the larger objective.  Teamwork makes us feel good about ourselves and our achievements.

Right??  Isn’t that what teamwork is all about?

I thought so, but I had a boss who gave me a different perspective on teamwork, one I had have not fully considered before. 

According to the dictionary there is a second definition of teamwork:  “A group of people who form one of the sides of a game or contest.”  We know this definition well – we think of sport teams.  Teamwork is used in a competition that produces a definite winner and loser.

This is how my boss thought of teamwork, as part of a competition.  In his logic, if there is teamwork, then there is a competition which, most importantly, produces a winner and a loser.

For me this was really surprising to figure out about him.  For months I interpreted his “weekly team checks” with him giving me the thumbs-up and me giving him the thumbs-up in return as making sure we were moving forward on correcting the company problems.  I never considered that by his “team check” he was really asking “you are still on MY team –right?”  I didn’t consider this because I didn’t know who he and I would be competing against.  Using my definition of teamwork, the objective was to improve the company’s performance and that was what my boss, my staff and I were working towards…right??

Not quite.

In my boss’s mind, for my company to move up then something had to move down – actually it is more correct to say that for the company and HIM to move up, someone else had to move down.  That calls for a competition that would determine the winner and loser.  

It took a few weeks but I figured out who my boss was competing against and… ooppss!!!  It was the manager I was reaching out to in order to build a larger corporate team!!   So when my boss saw me talking to this other manager, he thought I was defecting to the other manager’s team and working against him.  This of course caused conflict between me and my boss.

To me it was an utterly ridiculous situation – this should be about teamwork and positive objectives – not about defeating another manager so my boss’s personal insecurities could be quelled.

But this situation got me thinking – had I worked for other managers who only thought of teamwork in a conjunction with a competition?  Did they understand how to use teamwork without team rivalries – ust to improve performance?

Surprisingly I thought of a lot of times when teamwork was used to rally the troops in competition against another company but few when my boss touted teamwork to reach a corporate objective.  I had to think back to the days when I was in the Air Force or working with the military to find real teamwork.  It made me wonder how the American business culture really views teamwork.

Competition is a part of business – there is always a competitor to out-perform.  Many companies I worked for were very competitive with a primary rival – like the Washington Redskins versus the Dallas Cowboys.  When competing for new work from a client we weren’t just after the new work, we also had to beat our rival.  Even if a third competitor got the work, that was OK as long as our rival didn’t win and us lose.  We could find a victory in this kind of defeat.  (It’s like the Redskins favoring any team who plays and beats the Cowboys!)

Even though competitiveness and teamwork are linked, we don’t have to defeat another group to use teamwork.  We can compete against ourselves – against our old performance.  This is how I inspired teamwork – I found something tangible and measureable for us to compete against – a goal.  In construction, it is easy to compete against time – completing a project by a certain date.  We also can compete against poor quality work – have less than 5 punch list items on each phase of work.

When we meet our objective we celebrate just as if we beat our biggest rival for a new project.  We also savor the deeper sense of pride and self-confidence we achieve.

But for a lot of people like my boss, the idea of competing against yourself is a difficult concept.  It requires humility and the ability to look inward, admitting that you weren’t measuring up to standards you want to set for yourself.  People like my boss find it easier to look outward and push someone else down in order to prove himself to himself.

Most of the conflict I experienced at work could have been settled with my definition of teamwork, but competitiveness was chosen instead.  Instead of admitting our mistakes or shortcomings, we argued that the other side was overbearing in their standards or requirements.  If our team could find a way to push down and discredit their team then we wouldn’t have to admit our mistakes.  While my bosses get a sense of victory in that, I don’t.

I will continue to promote my definition of teamwork where the organization works together to achieve an objective that is bigger than ourselves.  I don’t need to push another entity down in order to raise us up.  We can rise and other entities can remain stationary.

This is what really great managers and companies understand.  It is what I learned in the Air Force and like others who have served in the military, this version of teamwork becomes part of who we are.  We know that by collectively working together for an objective larger than ourselves we will always excel. 

So, don’t take it for granted like I did that you and your company are working from the same definition of teamwork.  Look around your company and see if they only use teamwork when competing.  You may have to teach them how to have teamwork without competition.  And if you have former military members in your office, they will gladly help you.

The empowered woman uses teamwork to improve performance and instill pride and self-confidence in her team.