Every leader strives to do this, great teams create output such that the whole is much much greater than the sum of the parts. Usually in great teams, team members are excited, that excitement is contagious, it spreads fast and spreads to the entire organization. when you are part of a great team, you got along so well, that you helped each other, you cherish that time so much, you will make miracles happen. You probably have noticed, or may be you will start paying attention from now on, whenever there is a poster or anything that talks about team work, there will always be a picture of few people rowing the boat somewhere, because that is the most appropriate analogy for team work. In order to win the rowing race, all the people that row need to row as if there are multiple parts of the same machine that rowed as if they are all one.Because that is the only way they can win, even if their rowing goes slightly out of synch they will start working against each other and will not be the fastest and they will lose.
You can clearly see the team that enjoys the work. They are having fun, they are laughing, eating together (eating together is very important because it brings the tender side of people together), helping each other, and have each other’s back. They form such a cohesive relationship that work so well together. There is a lot of communication that happens between them. Also keep in mind that the team in which team members that communicate the most produces the best results. This has been substantiated by research.
All this creates a great work environment,which is contagious and spreads throughout the entire organization. This is when the whole becomes much greater than the sum of the parts, which is the environment every manager/leader strives very hard to create. This is an aside here. This is often debated a lot the differences between a leader and a manager. A manager is a guy who manages things, meaning it could be managing bunch of machines on a shop floor, managing a timeline, which is managing resources, but keep in mind here the resources are not people. Whereas the leader always manages people because people are different from machines. Machines always have a constant output, meaning a machine can produce a certain number of parts given all the inputs that are required for it to run. For example, if a machine produces 100 parts per hour, if I run it for 8 hours, I get 800 parts, and if I had 10 machines I get 8,000 parts. If I run all of them for 8 hours, so I know exactly how many parts it can produce. So a manager can come in and manage these machines and produce the best output based on these numbers, and by changing the schedule the manager can maximize the outputs.
Where as people are different, people have this thing called emotion that makes them work different in different circumstances. When they emotionally connect with each other, display energy, when there is sparkle in everyone’s eyes, when they understand each other, and develop empathy for each other, they help each other. They watch each other’s back. They work so well together as a team. But when they hate each other,they don’t work so well together. Even if one person does not fit in the team, that creates disastrous consequences. So that is why they say one bad apple can spoil the entire basket. That is why it is very important to have a great leader who can inspire the team. When there is a great leader that truly inspires the team, sky is the limit for what the team can accomplish. These people are even ready to go on a war on behalf of their leader.
The one aspect that builds solid teams is shared hardship, that is why if you see guys that went to war together will be the best buddies for ever, they have gone through the most dangerous, scary experience together, went to the gates of death together, there is nothing more scary than that and overcome that together. When the task is challenging that makes people come together creates the best bonding among people and creates great teams, that can make miracles happen.