The importance of team

By Jeff Becraft

Whatever happened to “team?”

I have been corrupted by several people lately, and I am staying up way too late watching soccer games in the World Cup.

Obviously, in soccer, it’s a big deal to score a goal. Now, I am a big believer in celebration… and I think they ought to be celebrating after a goal (they worked hard enough to get it… it’s not like they were sitting around in lawn chairs and it just happened…). And we ought to be celebrating a lot of things in life.

So celebration is not the issue… but in one game, this one player had scored a goal and his teammates came rushing over to celebrate with him and he actually pushed his teammates away so that he could go over and stand in front of the crowd and point to his own chest and point to himself as if to say, “Did you see that? That was me. I did that.”

From my perspective, it really muddied the water on an exciting moment.

I have seen this happen across multiple sports, in multiple situations, from multiple people. Someone making a great play and pointing to themselves or pounding their own chest.

I hate to tell this player on that team  (and I am not even going to give his team or his number, and I never did know his name – I am not trying to pick on this player)… but without his teammates, he’s not scoring that goal. Or any other goal. There would not even be an occasion to celebrate.

There is a friend of mine I call Red Dog Leader that I have heard more than once tell a group of people about the final play of the Ice Bowl between the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys for the NFL Championship in 1967. It was Jerry Kramer who threw the winning block in that game where Bart Starr shuffled his way across the goal line on a frozen field. Kramer didn’t point to himself, he didn’t say, “Look at me,”… he trotted off the field. He was just one of the team and he had done his part along with his teammates to win a championship.

There was tumultuous celebration (and I believe in tumultuous and enthusiastic celebration)… but there was nothing about self-focused recognition. (Although there are times in my own life where I am entirely too self-focused.)

I have another friend who I have heard say to high school students, “If you take the word “Me” and you turn the M upside down, it becomes ‘We.’” That is really the key to success. Whether it is winning an athletic contest, putting on a new roof for a person in need through Home Works, accomplishing a project at work, or whatever, recognizing that we are part of the team, giving our best for the team, and celebrating with the team is an important dynamic.

There is an acronym, and it is certainly not original with me, but it is true: Together Everyone Accomplishes More.

It is amazing what can get accomplished when it doesn’t matter who gets the credit.

Jeff Becraft is the Director of Our Place of Hope located in Columbia, South Carolina, where people find encouragement to regain meaning, purpose, and hope for their lives. Jeff has dedicated much of his life to helping shift the vision of people’s lives. If you would like Jeff to speak to your group or event, you can connect with him at  [email protected].