Team leadership is a precious skill. However, teams in organizations are like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. They work and make progress. Then, boom, they materialize into a nightmare.
Everyone talks about the importance of “team” so it has become a worn out cliché. Together everyone achieves more (T.E.A.M.) is the spoken acronym, and nearly 2/3 of teams falter and fail. Most others fall far short of their intended objectives. You can change that for any team you are a part of or lead if you become a student of team-building.
25 Quotes About Team Leadership
The number 25 represents wisdom, with diplomacy and curiosity. Also, it suggests unity, cooperation and a unique ability to communicate well with others. Consequently, hopefully, this is true for you and any team you are involved in. Read on.
- “The strength of the team is each member. The strength of each member is the team.” Phil Jackson
- “No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.” -HE Luccock
- “Teamwork makes the dream work.” – Bang Gae
- “It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.” – Napoleon Hill
- “A leader must inspire or his team will expire.” – Orrin Woodward
- “Leadership is much more an art, a belief, a condition of the heart, than a set of things to do.” Max De Pree
- “The ratio of We’s to I’s is the best indicator of the development of a team.” -Lewis B Ergen
- “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” -Michael Jordan
- “Gettin’ good players is easy. Gettin’ ’em to play together is the hard part.” – Casey Stengel
- “Good teams incorporate teamwork into their culture, creating the building blocks for success.” -Ted Sundquist
- “A group becomes a team when each member is sure enough of himself and his contribution to praise the skills of others.” – Norman Shidle
- “No individual can win a game by himself.” -Pele
More Great Quotes About Team Leadership
- “Together, ordinary people can achieve extraordinary results.” – Becka Schoettle
- “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much” -Helen Keller
- “Team leadership is the secret that makes common people achieve uncommon results.” -Ifeanyi Onuoha
- “A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.” – Rosalynn Carter
- “The speed of the boss is the speed of the team.” -Lee Iacocca
- “A successful team is a group of many hands and one mind.” Bill Bethel
- “Good management consists in showing average people how to do the work of superior people.” – John Rockefeller
- “None of us is as smart as all of us.” -Ken Blanchard
- Trust is knowing that when a team member does push you, they’re doing it because they care about the team.” —Patric k Lencioni
- “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” -Henry Ford
- “Team-building is so important that it is virtually impossible for you to reach the heights of your capabilities or make the money that you want without becoming very good at it.” —Brian Tracy
- “Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.” —Steve Jobs
- “Talent is extremely important. It’s like a sports team, the team that has the best individual player will often win, but then there’s a multiplier from how those players work together and the strategy they employ.” Elon Musk
Pulling It All Together
Maybe for the project on that one day it was true; you are better than the team. But in most cases effective team leadership produces better, more complete, and more positive results. A team that communicates and works together well offers:
- More expertise and knowledge than even an exceptionally smart individual
can. - Perspective from different levels and disciplines of the organization.
- Richness of ideas and thinking styles.
Make no mistake about it; team-building does take more time. But the product of great team leadership far surpasses the contribution of a person working alone. Excellent teams also change the dynamics of the entire organization through the collaborations that develop and the quality of projects delivered. Team leaders that learn to facilitate this kind of effort are golden.
John Buchan, former Governor General of Canada said, “The task of team leadership is not to put greatness into people, but to elicit it, for the greatness is there already.”
For more tips and techniques on team leadership check out Rick’s complimentary and fascinating eBook: Creating a High Performance Team.
About the Author
Rick Conlow is CEO & Senior Partner of WCW Partners, a performance improvement company. Based in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, WCW works with clients in a variety of industries worldwide to help them excel in sales, service and leadership, facilitating business growth and vitality. Rick is author of Excellence in Management, Excellence in Supervision and Returning to Learning.
