by Josh on June 16th, 2009

Imperfections: Why We Have Teams

Think of a baseball team.  9 guys all playing together.  They all have one goal: win the game, be the best team.

How do they get there?  They practice, they work together.  They usually have very good players.  But they’re not perfect.  They have imperfections.

No team is made up of perfect players.  That means they all have strengths and weaknesses.  The shortstop plays there because he’s a good shortstop, not catcher.  The catcher isn’t a good pitcher.  The pitcher can’t hit very well.

We have teams because we need each other.  We can’t all play every position.  Nor should we.  God made us all different, so together we make a better whole.  We should learn to use our diversity.  It gives us a vast resource to lean upon.  The slugger can teach the pitcher how to hit better.

When you have a team, you can rely on your teammates to help cover your weaknesses.  And you can help cover their weaknesses.  As a team, you can accomplish more.

In your team, where do you fit in?  What are your strengths and weaknesses?  What are theirs?  Once you learn these, your team can work better together and achieve more.

Some things to think about.

7 Responses

1. 

   Semi-related thought: If professors would allow students to properly interview their classmates prior to a group project, I think a lot of them would turn out a lot better.

   By Vy Tran on June 16, 2009 at 11:24 pm #  (Reply)
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     Right on.

     My wife is a great editor/proofreader. Her professors always said she was the best peer editor of the class. I love how the whole is always better when we get to use our talents and strengths.

     (edit: my wife proofread me…)

     By Josh Wagner on June 16, 2009 at 11:29 pm #  (Reply)
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       BAHAHAHAHA. She did a nice job.

       By Vy Tran on June 16, 2009 at 11:31 pm #  (Reply)
2. 

   I feel like I'm awkwardly entering a conversation, but I'll jump in anyway…
   I agree Vy, about half the class projects would be great…and then there'd be another half of awful slack projects!

   By stephenbateman on June 17, 2009 at 2:44 am #  (Reply)
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     Haha! Yeah, I remember group projects where 1 person did 3 people's work. Ah, the good ol' days…

     By Josh Wagner on June 17, 2009 at 2:56 am #  (Reply)
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       Good ol' days!? 90% of the time I was the person pulling the weight of the other three people. Not cool.

       By Vy Tran on June 17, 2009 at 3:59 am #  (Reply)
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         Yeah. Know what you mean. (I need a sarcastic smiley, it would have worked perfect on my last comment!)

         By Josh Wagner on June 17, 2009 at 2:31 pm #  (Reply)