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The importance of building teams for success

Teamwork is essential for success in sports and in business. A few years ago, I was part of West Virginia’s first Veterans Cup Team. The Veterans Cup is a national soccer tournament for adult teams over 40 years of age. Beckley was hosting the tournament and there wasn’t a team from West Virginia in it. Our club was asked to put together a team. We practiced together for two months. We played youth travel teams. We scrimmaged the University of Charleston’s soccer team. We thought we were ready. In Beckley, we lost all three games. We didn’t even score a goal. The process helped us to become a Team. On Sunday morning we played a team from Philadelphia who ultimately won the tournament. We played our best game holding them scoreless for the first half. It was a close game. We had fun.

A few weeks later a got a phone call. The adult league put together an all-star team of the young guys. They wanted to play our Veterans Cup Team. Lynnda said, “That’s not fair.” “Maybe.” I responded. “It will be fun to get the Team together again.” Lynnda was right. It wasn’t fair. Our Vets TEAM destroyed the All-Stars 5-0. With 10 minutes left our captain told us, “Don’t shoot anymore. Just pass the ball around. They’re getting mad.” The All-Stars were faster and more skilled. The Vets had more experience. Many were coaches. Most important, we were a TEAM. The young All-Stars were playing their first game together. In athletics or business, I would rather have an All-Star TEAM than a team of All Stars.

What makes a successful team? Here are some keys to success discussed in my Learned Leadership book;

∫ A common goal or vision everyone buys into. This is the single most important element of a successful team.

∫ Effective communication. Everyone needs to know what the vision or goal is. They need to know where the team stands in relation to the goal. Individuals need to know if they are doing their part to make the team successful. Communication between individual team members is essential. This is true in sales, operations and athletics on and off the field.

∫ Individual and team rewards. Both are essential. These can be monetary in business like a raise or bonus. Recognition and appreciation can be just as powerful. Our high school soccer players get individual recognition. We also celebrate success as a team.

∫ Diversity is essential. As a manager I knew I didn’t want a team full of people like me. I needed people with skill sets, experience, ideas and ways of thinking that were different than mine. Diversity can be gender, race, age, ethnicity, education and especially skills. In soccer we need players that can score, others who have defensive skills and a few with the special skills to be a goalkeeper.

∫ Team members with the essential skills or the ability to develop them. Talent is nice to have but most skills can be developed with desire and a positive attitude

∫ Leadership is essential. The leader is responsible for casting the vision, putting the team together, making sure it stays focused on the vision and getting it through adversity. A leader is an influencer not a commander.

Teamwork is essential for successful business and athletic teams. It can also be used to solve our energy and environmental challenges.

This week Lynnda and I headed to Maryland for our granddaughter’s high school graduation. On U.S. Highway 48 (Corridor H) west of Morefield, we saw two ridge tops full of windmills. I

have never seen that many in one place. The wind was blowing and all but a few of the windmills were turning. Lots of electricity was being produced. That’s great because use a lot of electricity. In schools, chalkboards, pencils and even books are things of the past in favor of computers, pads and the internet. Schools use a lot of electricity. My daughter is a teacher in Maryland. She said they couldn’t teach if the power went off.

Unfortunately, the wind doesn’t always blow. My young grandson was with us on a trip a few years ago. Going over the mountains very few windmills were turning. He asked, “Grandpa, how do those windmills make electricity when have don’t turn?” Out of the mouth of babes. My young grandson asked a question that adults should ask but don’t.

England chose to depend on wind for a large part of their electricity. An article in the National Review on November 28, 2022 stated “In a 40-hour period in November (2022) wind power went from 16.4 GW to 0.4 GW.” This is the equivalent of shutting down over 5 John Amos coal fired power plants. It created a power crisis in England.

Technology isn’t available to store large amounts of electricity from wind and solar power when it isn’t needed. Storage is an additional large cost to consumers. What if we took a team approach? The vision is abundant, dependable, economical, low emission energy. Demand for electricity is increasing. Parts of the country saw brownouts at Christmas and last summer. Moving to EVs will greatly increase demand for electricity making things worse. We have diverse sources of energy all capable of giving us power. Each has strengths and weaknesses. Natural gas is a dependable economical backup for wind and solar.

Adding large amounts of wind energy to the grid without a guaranteed immediate backup power source is like playing soccer or hockey without a goalie. It guarantees a loss.

We can solve our energy and environmental problems economically.

It requires leaders who care about people and are capable of bringing people together instead of driving people apart. True leaders are visionaries, have courage, are effective communicators, don’t blame others (take responsibility) and build effective teams. Out of 330 million people, will true leaders step up? Will we support them?

All things are possible.

Greg Kozera, gkozera@shalecrescentusa.com, is the director of marketing and sales for Shale Crescent USA, www.shalecrescentusa.com. He is a professional engineer with a master’s in environmental engineering and over 40 years’ experience in the energy industry. He is a professional speaker and author of four books and numerous published articles.

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