Professional sports, in general, can teach the world important lessons about teamwork. Particularly when it comes to business and professional settings, where teamwork plays a vital role in contributing to the success of everyone involved.
Gazing up at the most inspirational posters and rugby wallpapers, you get an immediate impression of exactly what these people have to go through to achieve what they achieve. Rugby isn’t about skill and experience alone, but rather the way in which uniquely skilled and entirely different individuals come together to create a whole that is more than the sum of its component parts.
Scratch beneath the surface and you quickly note any number of values and qualities, which lie at the heart of successful teamwork in almost every imaginable setting:
Resilience
Success on the pitch means refusing to quit, even when the odds are firmly stacked against you. Regardless of how bleak or impossible, the outlook may be, it’s up to you and you alone to demonstrate the kind of resilience that motivates and encourages everyone else around you. Just as soon as any member of the team appears disheartened or defeated, it’s game over.
Flexibility
Teamwork is built upon the kind of flexibility and creativity that enables the team and its members to adapt to any challenge that presents itself. On the pitch, rugby players need to adjust to continually changing pressures with split-second precision, also knowing they can rely on their counterparts to do the same. The kind of interpersonal dependency that builds strong and capable teams.
Motivation
You cannot and will not succeed as a team in any pursuit, without the ability to constantly and effectively motivate one another. The more difficult the situation becomes, the more you need to dig deep and do whatever it takes to keep everyone around you motivated. Even if you are struggling with motivation, it’s your responsibility to boost the motivation and morale of everyone else. Easier said than done, but nonetheless one of the most significant contributors to success in all aspects of teamwork.
Team Spirit
What exactly does team spirit mean? It means getting to know your fellow team members and doing whatever it takes to establish bonds and ensure you enjoy each other’s company. It means seeing whatever it is you are doing as far more than a task to be completed. Team spirit is all about maximizing the enjoyment of the experience from start to finish as one unified and highly motivated unit. It’s about seeing the big picture for what it is and focusing on the collective goals of the team, rather than thinking about what you can get out of the deal.
Accountability
Teams cannot and will not succeed unless every member accepts full ownership and accountability for their own unique responsibilities. Every member of the team plays an equally important role in contributing towards a predetermined outcome. Whether it’s winning a rugby match or successfully completing a business project, every member of the team plays a part. Motivating and assisting one another is one thing, but ultimately it’s up to each individual team member to take full responsibility for their duties and priorities.
Communication
It’s impossible to overstate just how important strong and consistent communication is for the professional rugby team. Quite simply, surviving even the simplest game of rugby in the absence of communication would be borderline impossible. Before, during and after every game, communication has a direct contribution to the potential of the team to succeed and achieve its goals. It’s the same in all aspects of teamwork – communication between members of the team and general stakeholders alike often making all the difference.
Focus
When a single member of a rugby team loses focus for even a second, the whole thing comes crashing down – quite literally. The level of concentration supplied by each member of the team has a direct impact on everything that happens from start to finish. If you are unwilling or unable to invest the kind of focus the project requires, the team and its performance are guaranteed to suffer as a result.
Reliability
If you cannot rely on every other member of the team to do exactly what they are supposed to do, success becomes borderline impossible. On the rugby pitch, it’s not as if you have the time or even the opportunity to keep a constant watch over everyone else and ensure they are doing what they are supposed to be doing. Instead, you have to rely on them to do what they are supposed to do from start to finish. In all aspects of teamwork across the board, the same rule applies. You and everyone else around you need to demonstrate comprehensive reliability if the team is to successfully achieve its objectives.
Experience
The most experienced members of the team will almost always be those who bring the greatest value to the team as a whole. Motivation and general capabilities are all well and good, but you simply cannot put a price on experience. Experience is something you cannot coach or buy at any price and is, therefore, a priceless commodity. Hence, the importance of listening to those with the most experience and doing whatever you can to learn from their experiences.
Respect
You cannot realistically expect to get on with every member of every team you find yourself working in. It just isn’t going to happen – the same applying to sports teams and all other types of teams across the board. Nevertheless, you can and should do whatever it takes to ensure every member of the team respects one another and can pull together when it counts for the same collective benefit.
Enjoyment
Last but not least, it is fundamentally impossible to give your 100% if whatever it is you are doing isn’t something you are passionate about. It must be something you enjoy for it to bring the very best out of you. On the professional rugby pitch, you’re hardly likely to find a team member that isn’t genuinely passionate about rugby. Outside sporting circles, you need to think carefully about if and to what extent you genuinely enjoy what it is you do if you’re to be able to apply yourself fully.
