The achievement of a team is a function of the efforts and abilities of its members. I’m not going to clarify this; I use the term “function” quite loosely. Clearly it is possible to define activities which can be pulled along by the ability of one very good member, and also to define activities where the whole team is restricted to the speed of its weakest link.
Every now and again, when participating in these things, one becomes the weakest link. Maybe you’re just starting out in a sport, maybe the others have moved on, or better people have joined and superseded you. I can see two ways to deal with this:
- Ignore it
- Practice so you improve
(Of course you have to spot that the situation has arisen before you can take any action, and perhaps point 1. is simply a feature of not recognising your position in the team).
I think there’s two important points here. The first is that you can never improve your ability without recognising that other people are better than you. It’s impossible to develop in a team if you arrogantly assume that you’re the best, or if you fail to notice when the competition steps up.
The other point is that people of a mid-range ability won’t practice until they slip to the bottom of the pile and decide to catch up. (The exception is where people have a chance of reaching the top spot, which becomes an aim in itself).
I’ll continue to study team dynamics, and report back.
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