Teamwork REALLY does make the Dreamwork

Achieving success in a business is like wielding a machine with many moving parts. In order for one part of the machine to work, another part must work and in order for that part to work, another, etc. Of course any machine requires fuel to get it moving. As the entrepreneur/owner/manager/CEO, you have to be that driving force, that fuel that makes the machine work.

When I think about dreams and dream jobs and what we have to do to make those dreams reality, I am reminded that it takes extreme amounts of teamwork. The various teams that make up a business are equivalent to the gears or the parts to the business machine. Each team has to be functioning properly in order to assist with the next team and the next, which in the end helps the business or project to work properly.

I would like to call to mind three concepts presented by the great Stephen Covey from his book, "7 Habits of Highly Successful People."

Dependent - as it suggests a dependency on someone else to do or accomplish something. We'll think of this in the terms of "You"
Independent - you as the individual take on and maintain responsibility for a task or project without having to rely on someone else. We'll think of this in terms of "Me"
Interdependent - this refers to the idea that people come together to work together to accomplish a task or project. This is ultimately the direction we want to go in terms of forming a team. We'll think of this in terms of "We"

I am going to show you how all of these terms come together to form the team that is going to move you towards success. To do this I am going to illustrate this idea with a symphony orchestra. Lets identify some of the teams within an orchestra and then we'll later demonstrate how it all fits together. There has to be a creative team that develops the concept or theme for a concert; a logistic team that will coordinate the preparation of music, scouting locations and securing any necessary equipment; a production team that coordinates the lights, sounds, curtains, stage work;  the musicians, whose individual teams are the sections of musicians who play together and of course the conducting team, which can be one or multiple people.

Now lets apply our three terms to this example:
Dependent - in an orchestral situation one person must depend on the next to make sure that they have practiced and prepared their music so that when they come to rehearsal they are making good use of their time. Within each instrumental section, the section leader or principal player depends on the people in their section to come prepared with music. While the section players depend on the principal to provide them with music if the designated music distributor is not available. The conductor is going to depend on each musician to come prepared with the notes and rhythms prepared so that the role of the conductor can be that of shaping said notes and rhythms into a musical idea. This is all about depending on someone else to do their part and not yours.

Independent - this refers to the individual musician and the conductor. It is my responsibility to practice my part and prepare everything on my own. When I enter rehearsal my job is to play my part and not have to depend on anyone to do my work for me. As a conductor it is my responsibility to make sure that I have properly prepared my interpretation for the music to be performed. This is all about me being able to act independently in my preparation and execution of the music.

Interdependent - this is when it gets really cool. This refers to the combination of dependency and interdependency. Now instead of you and me, it is now WE. We are independent in our personal preparation; we depend on each other to work together to make the music happen but we coordinate our efforts and we do so as a team. Multiple teams have now moved from the approach of the individual to the approach of the group.

The success occurs because all of the moving parts (the individual musicians - section teams - large group teams - full orchestra) are now working together in a harmonious union of dependency, independence and interdependence.

Another quick example - if you are a sports person, you can apply this to the dynamics of a sports team. In order for the team to function, each player must be independently prepared on his/her position and have prepared the skills needed to be successful in that position. They have to depend on one another to have prepared for their position and then interdependently they can work together, putting all of the moving parts together, to make the team work.

Success is all about having the dream and then building the team to make it happen!

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