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“No man is an island, entire of itself” said John Donne a long time ago. Still true today. Even leaders like Barrack Obama, Steve Jobs or Bill Gates need a supportive and enabling team. Similarly, we all have a latent capacity to excel if we function effectively together, but it doesn’t happen automatically. We have to work at it.

Many teams with the potential to excel get mired in mediocrity, hamstrung by internal strife, and barely hold together, leave alone achieving anything. Some teams are even busy doing nothing. As management guru Peter Drucker commented, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”

Here are ten time-tested mantras to keep that from happening to you and your team.

Be the Change You Want to See

The transformation of a disjointed group of individuals into a well-knit, high performing team is an individual as well as a team effort. In the great Mahatma’s words, each team member must “be the change you want to see.” Then a lot can happen. Think about these mantras, discuss them, practice them. They will launch your team out of its limitations to achieve what you can never achieve alone.

Great team performance is more than the sum of individual effort. It is the result of synergy flowing from a deep sense of togetherness and purpose; twin qualities that have to be developed and continually maintained.

The Elements of Cohesiveness

What makes a team cohesive? What can you do to produce a deep sense of togetherness within the team? Consider the following five.

Develop Personal Integrity

Enron collapsed like a house of cards because of zero integrity. What happens when integrity is absent? Regular disturbances, blame games, negative criticisms, destructive politics, manipulations, inter-personal conflicts, stress, reactions instead of responses, loss of trust, unmet deadlines. Decision making becomes an uphill task.

Integrity is a composite quality. It means you can trust each other, instead of second guessing. It is the absence of hidden agendas and the presence of transparency, with nothing questionable. It is the assurance that each will deliver the best, on time, and be accountable to fellow team members. Integrity reduces problems, creates peace and well being, enhances togetherness, and leads to better decisions and choices.

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