My purpose in TEAMWORK is to show you how you can identify your own feelings,... then guide you in assessing those feelings to make sure you are comfortable with the team you are on; and, if you are not, help you identify ways to change that. 
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I think you will find that this book on teamwork is quite different than any you have read in the past. It focuses on the subject from a totally different perspective. Here’s how.
It’s been my experience that it is impossible for me to accurately assess the actions or attitudes of members of a group or to know the actions or attitudes of other people. So, attempting to determine whether a group of people are working together as a team is impossible if you look at the group as a whole, or at any one member of that group -- unless the one member of that group you analyze is yourself.
A great quote from my friend John Miller, the creator and author of “QBQ, The Question Behind the Question”, goes like this, “If you want to improve your company, your team, your family or any other organization, then begin with yourself. Ask the question, “How can I get better? If I get better, the team gets better.” So, this teamwork guide is first and foremost about you, not the others.
I’ve found that, if you focus on yourself, on what you are feeling, whether you are comfortable or are uncomfortable with a person or a situation, only then can you make some assessment as to what you think about the team you are on, and conclude whether you are comfortable with other team members.
Your discomfort could come from within, from your own misgivings (baggage – head trash) or from without, from the actual actions of another team member. Realizing that you are uncomfortable, then discovering the basis of that discomfort are the first steps to identifying any disfunction in the team you are on, in order to deal with it.
The assets of team members may vary, and one team may have more “talent” than another. But, aside from that, TEAMWORK is that aspect of a group of people that binds them together so they can work as one. If one person on a team has any discomfort with the project, the process, or any team decisions that will affect them or their department, they cannot fully act as a team member and, therefore, the team cannot function. A team is only a team when it is functioning – when each member experiences no feelings of discomfort -- when each member has what I call THE FIVE ASSURANCES.
So, what is your reward for functioning as a team member if you don’t have the usual opportunities a group offers, that is, to be the best performer of the group, to know more than anyone else in the group, or exhibit any other attributes that would otherwise point you out as an individual or as a champion, a hero, or a leader? The reward you will receive from being a member of a functioning team is that unique and incredibly satisfied feeling you get when you have contributed to something that is greater than you, and when your input has been considered in a plan that has accomplished more than you could ever accomplish alone. You get to experience that rush that comes when you know that others are equally committed to the same outcome as you are. You have the satisfaction of being responsible for a necessary and equal part of a whole that moved forward as one toward an objective. And you have the chance to rejoice with all those others who felt accountable for the end result. That is teamwork. That is camaraderie. And there is no feeling in the world like it.
My purpose, in this little book, is to show you how you can identify your own feelings, then to guide you to assessing those feelings to make sure you are comfortable with the team you are on, and, if you are not, to help you identify some ways to change that. I hope the tools in this book will make your life easier and more joyful.
-Ken Edmundson
