Monday, April 13, 2009

There is No "I" in TEAM

TEAM stands for "together everyone achieves more."

We celebrated Easter yesterday. Reflecting on Jesus and his life I realized that he is the greatest teamplayer. Through his example he demonstrated his surrender for the higher purpose and his Heavenly Father. He was concerned for the future of his team of twelve disciples while they were shaken up by doubts, denials, betrayals, etc.

Even at the Garden of Gethsemane he spoke these fateful words: ... not my will but your will be done ( Luke 22:44).

Insteat of holding our regular sunday service, our church community decided that whoever wanted can go and participate serving the elderly with http://cincinnati.littlebrothers.org/ on Easter sunday morning. My husband and I were assigned to visit with three ladies and deliver Easterbaskets and a warm meal. Other volunteers had worked all morning to put together baskets with snacks, drinks, eggs and a life plant. We also delivered a warm meal to those who lived at home. We spend time visiting with the ladies and entertained them for a while, mostly listening to their life stories. It was a good practice to take the "I" out of the picture since we were there to serve the elderly.

There is no "I" in TEAM

By definition, a 'team' is a group of people working together for a common purpose. From this definition has come the well worn phrase, hung by the coffeepot in employee lounges of organisations all around the world. The TEAM values the togetherness of individuals, with all their individual strength, skills and experiences. This dynamic does not allow alot of personal ego. Rather it focuses on each helping each other and is the perfect way to success for any team.


The TEAM relies on individual contribution. If any one member of the team does not cooperate, the productivity of the whole team suffers. Each individual member is required to get out of their comfort zone, for the whole group to move on to greater tasks.


Just in time, I received a link today to an article in the Washington Times, on the effects of excessive self-esteem, which is the opposite of serving others. This article, written by John K. Rosemond is titled "High Self-Esteem For Kids Is A Sham." Mr. Rosemond admits that the whole idea of boosting self-esteem in children was made up by psychologists to give "something" to modern day parents who are not willing to learn from their elders but rather trust theoretical scientists. His conclusion is that children with high-trumped self-esteem are not willing to serve or surrender their ego. Go figure.

As Jesus demonstrated, living for the sake of others, is the highest virtue. We all need to learn this kind of lifestyle and whom not to learn it best from than our own parents?

To learn more about the educational aspect of the TEAM system, please visit: http://the-team.biz/.

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