Historically, when I thought of a Team, the image that came to mind usually revolved around either sports or had some sort of competitive purpose. I thought competition was a driving factor in what made a group a team. This of course then led me to believe that a group was just a collection of individuals that were bound together for some purpose other than competition. After reading through the “Team Leadership” section of our course a couple weeks back, the light finally came on for me as to the true difference between a team and a group. According to PSU WC (2016), a group is two or more people that influence one another through interaction and their efforts are then combined into a final product whereas a team is a sub-group that requires high dependency on one another and that interaction is vital to their overall success. Being a former Navy SEAL, I can now understand why they referred to us as SEAL Teams and not SEAL Groups.
Growing up in the SEAL Teams, one thing that is very apparent to us is that you are no better than your weakest link. We count on one another and trust that we each will do what is required of us to ensure mission success. We do not have the ability to do our “own thing” but rather every movement or action that we take affects what the next person will do. According to Northouse (2016), “team members must work collectively to achieve their goals” which is exactly what is expected of us. If we work independent of one another, we will fail. If we only coordinate our activities and hope that the next person will do the same, we will fail. We are a single entity, functioning together to achieve a common goal.
One of the most important aspects of whether or not we are successful depends on the type of leaders we have making the tough decisions. According to Barge (1996, as cited in Northouse, 2016), a good leader must be flexible and have a wide repertoire of actions or skills. This is something the SEAL Teams take very seriously, and one of the reasons why every SEAL trains in very diverse settings. One very unique aspect of the SEAL Teams is that anyone can find themselves in a leadership depending on the situation. There are many instances where the most junior person may find himself as the one making a decision that will lead to either success or failure to the overall mission. For this reason alone, we treat every member as a potential leader, and try to ensure that we all have the wide repertoire of skills that is required in order to make these tough decisions.
If our organization treated itself as a group instead of a team, there is no chance that we would be as effective as we are. Without the help of the man behind you and beside you, you would never have the opportunity to push forward.
References:
Northouse, Peter G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice (7th Ed.). SAGE Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA. Print.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2016). PSYCH 485: Leadership in Work Settings, Lesson 09: Team Leadership. Retrieved on March 30, 2016 from: https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/sp16/psych485/001/content/09_lesson/04_page.html