Is there an “I” in “Team”?

Of course there is...

You’ve probably heard the phrase “There’s no I in team” right?

Well technically it’s true but as with everything it depends on where you look! Because if you look closely it’s hidden in the A-hole.

Of course, the phrase is referring to whether great teams tolerate and perhaps even build themselves around the maverick or selfish individual or whether the team is stronger without that talented individual.

You can find many examples of both sides of this debate being true so I don’t think there’s a universal answer to it but I’m taking a slightly different view of this phrase and I explored it in the latest episode of The Agile Skills Library podcast.

You see, I think a team is made up of multiple “i’s”…individuals with their own goals and hopes, preferences and icks, quirks and frailties, and talents - both visible and hidden.

For many teams the problem isn’t rampant selfishness, it’s unfamiliarity.

We don’t really know what matters to the people we work with. We don’t know what drains them, what energises them, what they’re quietly ambitious about, or what they find surprisingly hard. So we make assumptions which can have surprisingly negative impacts on teamwork.

Great teamwork doesn’t require you to abandon who you are. It requires you to make it visible.

It means being willing to say, “Here’s what I care about. Here’s how I work best. Here’s what I need from you” and just as importantly, it means listening carefully enough that you can take your teammates’ preferences into account.

When people feel seen and understood, they lean in and are more committed.

In the latest podcast episode, Paul and I explore this tension properly and share a simple tool (with a downloadable template) you can use with your team to build that kind of understanding deliberately, rather than hoping it happens by accident.

Because strong teams aren’t built by removing the “I”.

They’re built by understanding it.