Teamwork

Teamwork.  So important and yet seeming to be lacking in general life.  But it is such a powerful force, a tremendous source of satisfaction, an essential element in success, and a profound force when properly constructed and employed.

When growing up, Little League baseball and Scouting were the norms.  Each taught teamwork and when the coaches were really good, we learned that there is no "I" in TEAM.  Striving for something greater than an individual.  Even in the public school system, prior to all the dumbing down of the system so currently prevalent, teamwork was used.  Small groups would work on a problem in math, each child bringing his/her knowledge and strength to the task at hand.  Certainly, some were better at math than others.  The math answer was just a small part of the lesson.  The real value was taken in working as a member of a team.  We'd carry this out to the playground, playing a variety of sports.  So, when it was time to step onto the yellow footprints at Marine Corps Officer Candidate School, I'd been trained and conditioned to value teamwork.  It was time, on that hot humid day in Virginia, to undertake a graduate course on teamwork.

During that summer and 30 years of active duty, I lived and breathed teamwork.  The Marines take it to a level most can't understand.  In trying to convey what it means, I want to share the following.

A primary element in boot camp and OCS is that the individual must earn the title MARINE.  Once that title is earned, we believe that "once a Marine, always a Marine."  That's why a Marine will challenge anyone who described him/her as a former Marine.  There ain't no former about it.  Another thing I learned were the informal rules about being a Marine.  There are only two.  Rule Number 1: Never let a fellow Marine down.  Rule Number 2:  Never forget Rule Number 2.  What, you may ask, does this have to do with teamwork?

Marines believe the team is everything.  Whether it is a squad, platoon, company battalion, squadron, whatever.  And above the individual military units is the fidelity to the Corps.  Being part of the best team ever to exist.  That driving force of teamwork guides everything...all things.  Doesn't matter what or where or when.  At every level, the Marine in charge is responsible for his team and its members.  We were taught, throughout our career, that there is only one way, the Marine way.  We're taught that "Marines don't do that" or "Marines do this."  A member of the team only does it one way, the Marine way.  This belief is invaluable and crucial to building the individual and unit discipline necessary to accomplish what Marines have been successfully accomplishing throughout history.  It is such as strong, central belief that even today, a decade after retiring, if I learn of a Marine dishonoring the team by his/actions, I react angrily.  I'm also certain, in my anger, that the team -- the Marine Corps -- will take the appropriate action to punish those responsible.  This self-policing function is essential to teamwork.  Normally, members of an elite team wouldn't think of taking any action that would discredit or besmirch the team -- the Marine Corps.  For those unthinking ones that do so, the team -- the Marine Corps -- will swiftly and certainly take action.  In this way, the team maintains its standards and members of the team take pride in that for which they stand.

Compare this to other institutions that can benefit from teamwork.  Just grabbing one out of the air, let's think about Congress.  If ever teamwork was needed in a public body, it is in the Congress.  Where better to pursue common values and a shared commitment to the pursuit of excellence?  Sadly, Congress all to well illustrates what happens in the absence of teamwork.

Where is this all heading?  Our society needs to teach more teamwork, demand more teamwork, encourage more teamwork, beginning in public school and continuing through all education and into the work place.  Unfortunately, the courts, media, and politicians are doing their best to eviscerate good old fashioned teamwork.  They pursue actions where teamwork isn't rewarded.  All too sad.

Take us back to the days of the kids playing sports to learn teamwork and finding that to exist at school and later in the workplace!         

Note: changed the tag from From my front porch" to Graybeard views," because there seemed to be so many others using "front porch views" in their blogs.