Timeless Teamwork Principles

Nearly 100 years ago Napoleon Hill wrote the treatise on teamwork principles in his book Think and Grow Rich.

Why is Teamwork Important?

Through the 20th and into the 21st century there have been countless books, recordings, and seminars on teamwork.

Many of these principles offer valuable insight to building teamwork within an organization or workplace,

Hill's principles are timeless. Here they are:

• Ally yourself with a group of as many people as you may need to carry out your plan.
• Personally figure out what advantages and benefits you can offer each member of your team in return for their cooperation with your plan.
• Arrange to meet with your team bi-weekly at regular scheduled intervals.
• Remain in "perfect" harmony with your team.

Cooperation & Teamwork makes sense, but. . .

Look at any aspect of building or developing a business, one of the core values of business is: people must work in unison.

From the business owner to the customer, every phase of business is structured upon people building agreement with one another.

The team agrees with the team leader, while the customer agrees that the product offers enough value to trade their hard-earned money for it.

Business is a system based on trading value for value.

Harmony occurs when the value of being part of the team system compensates or exceeds any disadvantages of being a member of that team, effective teamwork operates the same way.

Hill sums up his simple teamwork principles with this quote:

• "No individual has sufficient experience, education, native ability, and knowledge to ensure the accumulation of a great fortune, without the cooperation of other people."
  --Napoleon Hill

Teamwork principles are based on this simple idea.

You can see why team breakdown occurs: the costs of being part of the team outweigh the gains.

Teamwork is a System of Give and Take

As a leader your primary job is to offer enough value and incentive to your team as to acquire their unbroken alignment to your system. The system you set in place based on simple teamwork principles and filled with the right people, naturally achieves the goals.

In "Think and Grow Rich" the goal Hill wrote about was the accumulation of wealth. However, it is also clear, the attainment of organizational or team goals relies primarily on peoples' cooperation with these same teamwork principles.

It's important to stress the magnitude Hill places on a leadership possessing perfectly clear vision about their team or organization's goals. Checkout these helpful teamwork tips

Michael Gerber, the author "The E-Myth" writes:

• "The question you have to ask yourself is, 'What do I want?' If that's not driving it, then it becomes an empty process. . . That stops me from externalizing the process and making it an exercise in creating objectives. Internalize this and make it a truly personal question."
  --Michael Gerber

Crystal clear team vision is a result of a leader's ability to figure out what he wants, organize a clear plan of action to attain the goal, and take total ownership for implementing that plan .

Hill reiterates, a leader's plan must be of major importance to a leader and must be "faultless" if you want is to attain goals, in theis case building a high performance team

Here a few ideas to foster teamwork in your organization

Technology and Environment May Change,
But Teamwork Principles Don't. . .

Hill's thoughts are repeated in countless writings of business and military leaders.

As a leader, whether you own a small business or you're a manager for a large corporation, it is your responsibility to put your team in a position to succeed. To succeed you must develop teamwork in the workplace.

The easiest path to accomplish your goals is to get total alignment with:

• What you want to achieve.
• Develop your "faultless" plan
• Organize and support in "harmony" with your team
• Take ownership of your plan of action
• Lead to Succeed

These are the seeds of successful businesses, and timeless teamwork principles.