Setting Up Your Team (Unifying Factor of Complementary Skills)

A body isn't really a body, unless there is more than one part. It takes many parts to make a single body. - Paul (the apostle)

Having laid the foundation for the need to work with a team in your success journey, I shall go a little further to discuss what I call unifying factors that should bring team members together. These are the factors that bind a group. It is worthy to note that not every gathering is a team. Most organizations are simply groups and nothing near teams. Teams only exist when these unifying factors are in place.

The unifying factor of complementary skills: members of a team have to complement each other in skill. If you have everybody in a group having just one skill, know that you have no team at all. There is practically no way such a group can effectively provide excellent service at all times. Team players should take up roles that they feel they can best fit into. If everyone in a group fits into only one type of mold, play becomes boring. Paul (the apostle) once stated: “Our bodies don't have just one part. They have many parts. Suppose a foot says, “I'm not a hand, and so I'm not part of the body.” Wouldn't the foot still belong to the body? Or suppose an ear says, “I’m not an eye, and so I’m not part of the body.” Wouldn't the ear still belong to the body? If our bodies were only an eye, we couldn't hear a thing. And if they were only an ear, we couldn't smell a thing. But God has put all parts of our body together in the way that he decided is best. A body isn't really a body, unless there is more than one part. It takes many parts to make a single body. That's why the eyes cannot say they don't need the hands. That's also why the head cannot say it doesn't need the feet… If one part of our body hurts, we hurt all over. If one part of our body is honored, the whole body will be happy”.

As it is with our bodies so it is with effective teams. Every player must have a unique skill to contribute to the progress of the team. Only in using complementary skills to your advantage can your team cover all ends. If an army is hedged in with enemies all around them, the best battle formation is a circle - Only the unifying factor of complementary skills can afford that.