ONE BODY, MANY PARTS
Being part of a team can be one of the most fun and most rewarding experiences we have. It’s special when you partner with others to achieve something that’s bigger and more meaningful than anything you're capable of doing on your own. It’s special when you have someone else’s back, and when you know, without a doubt, that they have yours. It’s special when you have a group that brings out the best in one another.
But being part of a team can also bring with it some challenges and complications, too. It can be really tough balancing your own personal goals and pursuits with those of the larger group. It can be tough working with people who don’t want the same things you want, who don’t appreciate what you bring to the table, or who you come to realize don’t have your back. A dysfunctional team certainly doesn’t bring out the best in any of us. If anything, it usually makes us worse.
One of the biggest challenges we face when we’re on a team is accepting the role we’ve been given. This is especially true when the role we have is not the role we want or the one we think we deserve. Maybe you’ve been in that spot before, or even find yourself there now. When you aren’t the go-to guy (or girl), it can be easy to convince yourself that your role isn’t that important or that your best isn’t really required. But I want to challenge and encourage you to see today that if you’re part of a team - any part of a team - then your role is important, and your best is required. In fact, how you fill your role on the team is key in determining what kind of team you build and what kind of experience you create.
How you fill your role on your team is key in determining what kind of team you build and what kind of experience you create.
Coach John Wooden led the UCLA men’s basketball team through maybe the most dominant stretch of competitive greatness in team sports history. His teams won 10 national championships in 12 years, including seven straight from 1967-1973. In their most superior stretch from 1967-1969, UCLA won 88 games against only two losses, and were led by arguably the greatest college player of all-time, Lew Alcindor.
John Wooden used an interesting analogy to describe those UCLA teams. He described them as a car, and Alcindor as its engine. He was the biggest and most valuable piece of the machine, and the one that got the most attention and fanfare. Some of the other players, who appeared in many ways to play a lesser role in the team’s success, Wooden described as an ignition switch or a fuel line or a spark plug. None of those car parts are particularly flashy or noticeable, but Wooden knew and emphasized their importance. He knew and emphasized that a fancy car with even the most powerful engine can’t go anywhere unless the ignition switch and the fuel line and the spark plug each do their job. They may not have the flashiest or most noticeable role, but ultimately their role was just as important as the engine’s, and if the team was gonna go where they really wanted to go, it would take everyone doing their part.
That analogy stems from a biblical principle that, as a man of faith, John Wooden was probably familiar with: one body made up of many parts. “Suppose the foot says, ‘I’m not a hand, so I don’t belong to the body,’” the bible says. “And suppose the ear says, ‘I’m not an eye, so I don’t belong to the body. If the whole body were an eye, how could it hear? If the whole body were an ear, how could it smell?” Wooden applied that concept to his teams. Their very best required that everyone do their part. No more. No less. The more time one player spent wishing they had the role and responsibility of someone else, the less committed they could be to simply doing their job and maximizing their gifts as effectively as possible. Of course, everyone wants to be the star. But great teams are made up of individuals who are committed to being a star in whatever role they have. That's a principle that applies to you and your team, too.
I don’t know what role you have to play on your team, but I do know that your role is important. It may not be the biggest or most valuable, and it may not get the most attention or the most fanfare. But without you doing your job as effectively as possible, your team can never reach its full potential. So if you’re a spark plug, quit dwelling on the fact that you aren’t the engine. Just focus on bringing a valuable, difference-making spark to your team each day. If you’re a foot, quit wishing you were a hand. Just focus on taking the next step in front of you to the best of your ability. Focus on being a star in whatever role you have. That’s the best formula for you and your team to achieve something together that’s bigger and more meaningful than anything you're capable of doing on your own.