Personal Application #1
My personal experience of being on a team was in high school playing baseball. During those four years I played on teams that were very good and very average and many times it was the result of the teamwork within the players. The teams that were good were the ones that effectively communicated and trusted every member. When people talk about “team chemistry”, they are speaking about the cohesiveness of the group of players. My junior year team really struggled with team chemistry and it ultimately came down to the player’s personal goals being more important than the team’s common goal. There is no way a team can reach their common goal or full potential without each member being fully committed to achieving the goal they set out to accomplish. In my case, other teammates were more concerned with having better stats rather than putting aside individual goals for the greater good of the team. It’s fair to say that some players on our team were more task-focused than others in the sense that we didn't all concentrate on the same tasks to get the job done.
Baseball is a very interesting sport because the offense is conducted by each player getting a chance to hit. Unlike basketball or football, the team relies on each player to be able to hit the ball and facilitate the offense. This is unique because the best player on the team can’t carry the team or be the main scorer. Because of this, there is a tremendous amount of responsibility put on each player. From my experience, I could see that the teammates who embraced the responsibility really flourished as players and as people. I can’t emphasize enough how important communication is in baseball. I was a pitcher when I played and the communication between the catcher and I needed to be seamless. The catcher is giving the pitcher hand signals for pitches based on what he thinks is best in that certain situation. Being dependent on each other formed a bond of trust that is important for teammates to have.
I had two different coaches throughout high school baseball and I can definitely say that the coach is the energizer for the team. Our team set out a goal each season and he kept us on track and motivated us whether we won or lost. The players are the ones that will ultimately decide the game based on how they perform, but the coach plays a pivotal role by boosting the morale of the team and maintaining their focus. During my first year of playing I had a coach that had a negative attitude when something was wrong. I noticed that it started to spread throughout the team and it really affected how we played. This goes to show that if the leader doesn't have charisma and a positive attitude, the team will lose motivation and performance will go down. There was a coaching change in my third year. Our new coach had a very different personality from our previous coach and it was a lot more positive. His verbal and nonverbal communication skills were much better. His body language was always positive and he focused on achieving many small goals rather than looking at the big picture. The results showed too because our team responded with positivity and better performance. The players exuberated more confidence in their selves and we started playing for each other rather than playing for ourselves. I was shocked by the difference in attitudes throughout our team and it came down to something as simple as a positive outlook.
I can say I learned a lot of things while being a part of a team but the biggest thing I learned was that without trust, there can be no relationship between people. In the case with my second coach, we trusted that his goals and advice were made with integrity. We were able to remain task-focused because he reminded our team to just stay the course and believe in ourselves and one another. Once the structured leadership was in place, our team thrived. Although baseball is just a sport, there are a lot of real world applications to be drawn from this. A leader needs to gain the trust and respect in the workplace as well.