Flicker of Inspiration Linkup #41: Teamwork
Your prompt this week was Teamwork. Whether it goes well or badly, or under whatever circumstances, teamwork is one thing that will never be obsolete.
After touching briefly on this very subject in a recent post , today’s prompt could not have been presented at a better time! My response won’t be eloquent, certainly not spiritual and I make no apologies.
I came home earlier after cleaning up at a sportsman’s club the hubs and I belong to, in fact, we have been members for more than twenty years. Like most clubs, or organizations, the politics within never change and, right now, I’m tired with an added dose of disgusted.
Make that a really BIG dose!
Maybe sporting clubs like ours are different because the people who belong are interested more in having access to various hunting properties that make up the club. The fact that we feature several social events for members and friends seems to be of little interest to the majority of the membership which numbers over one hundred.
The club by-laws state the requirements; mandated work hours and requests for member participation, always directed at those new to the organization. Of course, at the beginning, there are always those who express great interest in becoming part of club events but that flame of eagerness quickly goes up in smoke.
We all stopped holding our collective breaths long ago that anyone will comply. Once they become members, most use the club like a…well, you know.
Case in point. Last evening we held our yearly St. Patty’s dinner. Corned Beef, Cabbage…the works. For a paltry twenty bucks a head, we have a dinner that no one can match. I mean, people eat so much that some can barely fit behind the wheel of their car when the night is over!
I’ve posted about this before and shared a favorite potato recipe from the event.
Well, as usual, it was the same people setting-up and doing the prep work, same people doing the cooking and serving and, when it came time to go back this morning and meet for the cleaning up…three members (myself and the hubs included) did all the dirty work.
Those members, the ones who can always be relied on, are a pleasure to work along side of; together, we are a well-oiled machine. In one respect, we do these events so well that it is a tribute to our ability to work as a team. In fact, in the days leading up to an event, we gather and have our own little party as we put all the loose ends together.
Each of us has our specific job, we certainly share a common purpose and probably can lend more aspects to the definition of teamwork than Wikipedia lists.
That…is a very good thing!
But, the complete lack of participation from other members in our club, well..that, I have a hard time understanding and what I see are those who regard any form of teamwork as indeed obsolete. Or maybe it’s just easier to sit back, play dumb, and let a chosen few do all the planning, organization and, in the end, all the work.
That…is a very bad thing, in fact, call it inexcusable!
Right now, I’m wondering what has happened to camaraderie, in any sense of the word. Are we adults or kids still in middle school, part of the big scene but broken off into separate little worlds, belonging…but not really? It seems like some enjoy having the credentials that go along with membership, just not the involvement.
Until…something goes on or is changed at the club. Then, what I call The Peanut Gallery, springs to life, all coming unglued, wanting to be heard and no longer just names on an Excel spreadsheet. The PG’s turn into fire-breathing, nostril-flaring human beings, blast their grievances at whoever will listen and slink away into membership limbo once again.
Wish that I knew some formula, some method of enticing people to join hands and become part of the bigger picture. I’m open to suggestions!
Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work. ~Vince Lombardi
