The word United has been engraved on my mind recently. I have been on an airplane every week for the past five weeks: most of them have said United on the side. The Democratic National Convention is in Denver this week and the concept of being united is constantly thrown around – a highlight of Bill Clinton’s speech last night, for example. And at home, Mandy and I have had discussions around being a united front.

At the very basic level of teamwork is unity. Having a sort of common goal is integral for a team to function. Sports teams hopefully desire to be victorious. Armies wish for the same. In fact, victory is the unanimous goal for all teams — whether on a battlefield or at work. I have spent many hours recently at the offices of the world’s largest retailer. Unity is engraved all over the walls of the buildings and on the very faces of the employees.

I am recognizing that unity begets progress. This is common sense, but easily overlooked. Alongside unity lies competition. Within any team there is competition with other teams, but also internal competition. I can see internal competition happening between parents, between members of a sports team, between the ranks of the military, between Democrats, between Republicans, between employees… This kind of internal competition is encouraged in our society. We hear things like, “if you want to make it, you have to look out for yourself” or, “it is better for you to succeed even if your team does not.”

It seems best, then, to practice a healthy competition externally, but to have a selflessness internally. For a team to succeed, we need to have unity — a united front. But we also need to be selfless with our teammates. This is easily visible in a marriage or a family: a husband and a wife must have a united front when dealing with their children. Bu they must be selfless towards each other and avoid the internal competition. Parents who compete with each other for the love or approval of their children will never be united. As I said above, Mandy and I are learning this right now.

Within a team at work, the same concept applies. A team must have a united front when dealing with their tasks. But I would posit that selflessness from all team members will result in a more successful team. This is perhaps best expressed by Peter:

1 Peter 3:8 — Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 

May we, on all the teams we are on, have a united front that leaks humility.

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This entry was posted by zac on Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 6:48 am and is filed under Weekly Jib Jab. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.