What if I can make the shot?

This may seem very appropriate for the time, seeing that March Madness surrounds us. This past weekend, I witnessed a teamwork demonstration exercise. As someone who has attended and facilitated these types of workshops, I enjoy seeing the creation of new ways to reinforce the same themes of cooperation and collective success at the heart of promoting team mentality.

The exercise started off innocent enough. Students were asked to stand about 10 feet from a large trash can, crumple up pieces of paper, and "shoot" them into the "basket." Naturally, about 3 out of 10 made it in. After about 90 seconds, the facilitator arranged the group into 2 lines and assigned each person in each line a specific task in the original process (crumple paper, shoot, even recover those that miss). His point was with regards to the fact that teamwork coordinates individual efforts, reducing the potential for "missed" opportunities.

This is a relatively understandable demonstration for many applications, including the topic of the workshop (a component of service learning). However, the thought did occur to me with regard to those in the group who actually shot their paper balls into the trash can. The same people made the shots over and over, and while they were not perfect, they were successful.

How would someone feel if they were consistently successful at a series of tasks, or even a task we assume to be simple, only to have it split up in order to make more people feel successful? Perfection may be more attainable, but is the gain in team effectiveness worth the loss of an individual's potential accomplishment?

Circumstances like this are not new to anyone, and we experience them constantly. Sometimes, our desire to encourage participation and offer opportunity to all prevents the best candidates from standing at the front of the group and proving their advanced aptitude. Note that I did not state "superior," as knowing or being able to do more does not mean we are better than anyone else, all things considered.

The problem with the exercise I witnessed is that it teaches the wrong lesson. Teamwork is advantageous, but not when it limits or hinders the capabilities of the individuals that make up the team. In the ultimate team arena of sports, the strengths of team players are not compromised for the sake of one another, but rather maximized by position and responsibility. This is true throughout the professional world, where successful organizations identify and empower employees to focus on their strengths, as well as recognize those of their coworkers in order to improve efficiency and effectiveness while maintaining critical individual senses of belonging.

If the exercise I saw to demonstrate the strength of teamwork is commonplace, in this interpretation, on higher education campuses, then employers have much to be concerned about with the upcoming crops of graduating talent (if jobs are available). For those who have already been through drills like this and may not know what teamwork really is, the question to ask oneself is "do you really think someone is going to hire and pay you not to maximize your strengths and abilities?"

Understanding teamwork may require knowing when to "pass the ball," but it is as just as important to know when you can "make the shot."