In this month in which we honor Hispanic Heritage, I am going to take a slight detour from my usual topics.  I want to talk about “Team Work”.  Whether your team consists of two, ten or two hundred players, team work is needed in virtually every relationship; friendships, families, business, organizations and of course sports.

Teams usually have the same goal in mind, win the championship, make money, purchase a home etc…  They usually have talent that is more or less equal.  Sports have taught us that it is not always the team with the stars or the highest payroll that wins the championship.  So why is it that only a few truly succeed?

My opinion, “Team Work,” in every sense of both words often times are not taken seriously. They may all work together towards the same goal, but they also need to work together to strengthen one another.

Relationships of all types fall apart due to the “if he/she won’t I won’t syndrome”.  We see this in marriages, office relationships and amongst entrepreneurs, one party feels slighted by the other and then the preverbal snow ball effect takes place, where neither party gives in or the situation is not resolved, eventually the team suffers.  In many cases much worse.  Examples:

v      Home: Honey take out the trash, sure dear I’ll do it in a minute, two hours later it is not done, the person agreed and did not perform, resentment builds.

v      Work: After a meeting colleagues agreed to perform certain tasks, one party does not do as promised, hurting the team’s performance, causing others to pick up the slack, once again, resentment builds.

The most important thing in building a strong team is having strong teammates.

Spend time taking care of your teammates.  If he or she makes a request “get it done”, if you disagree with the request or think it is unreasonable, discuss it and offer a suggestion that makes sense, otherwise resentment will build.  It is better to disagree and discuss then to ignore (which will be the topic of another story). Do not prioritize based on your needs, timeline or opinion, if you agree to do it, “get it done”.  Honor his or her requests; it says you are important to me; this builds trust, respect, admiration and a mutual bond that will not be broken.  It says to your teammate if you fall I will catch you. 

So what does this have to do with Latino Lifestyle or Hispanic Heritage? Nada and yet everything!!!  Imagine all of us “Working Together”, strengthening our relationships at home, socially or at work.  What a strong Latino Team we will build.