Growing up, it took me a while to understand the value of a team. I played organized sports just like most kids; I was active in school leadership and played music with my school and with friends. However, it took me a while to understand that not just one person can be great, but the team must be great.
Unfortunately, our world doesn’t function anything like NCAA basketball, where championships can be won on the shooting ability of one man — can anyone say Carmelo Anthony?
I am extremely blessed that Club Solutions Magazine typically functions like a well-oiled machine. Of course, we have our tiny situations where someone didn’t explain something well enough, but overall we operate like a great team.
I believe I was well into college when I realized the power of a team. In college I wrote for my school newspaper the Kentucky Kernel at the University of Kentucky. No, it’s not the Harvard Business Review, but it’s a pretty good student newspaper. I can’t tell you the awards it got, but it got them.
Regardless, it was hanging out in the newsroom where I started to see all the pieces to the puzzle. I realized that if I didn’t write my story, my editor couldn’t edit the story, the designer couldn’t layout the story and the photographers’ pictures were useless. Also, if the other writers didn’t turn in their assignments, then there wasn’t a paper at all. It took everyone in that room to execute their assignments to make that paper run smoothly.
Every publication I’ve worked at since college has been the same. Some function a little better than others, but as Editor, I realize that the team is the most vital aspect of running a newspaper, a magazine or any business, even a fitness club.
If you are the only person in your club that is worth anything, then what happens if you get sick and can’t come to work? The team doesn’t exist. Also, without a team, you can’t successfully operate a fully functioning club.
Everyone has worked for that person that believes that they are winning formula for success. They don’t agree with anyone, they steal ideas and they never give credit where credit is due. Those people are still like I was in high school, confused about the meaning of a team. Seriously, how many times does one person need to hear the saying, ‘There is no ‘I’ in team?” It’s lame, it’s cliché and it’s true. Just buy in to the philosophy and make your business great.
The quicker you can realize the importance of your team, the better your facility will operate. By implementing a great team, you will relieve stress, make more money and live a happier life.
Tyler Montgomery is the Editor of Club Solutions Magazine. Contact him at tyler@clubsolutionsmagazine.com
