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TEAM COHESION
There’s an Asian saying that you can break single chopsticks one by one but can never break a bundle of chopsticks tied together. A team can never succeed without good cohesion. And when team members do stick together, even if each member alone is not exceptionally good, the whole team can create incredible strength and do the impossible. Good team cohesion also has positive impacts on members’ satisfaction and helps reduce stress.
An example of this cohesion can be seen in the American men basketball team in World Championship 2002 and Olympic Athen 2004. Together they:
•Attended Olympics 16 times and win gold 13 times, all 16 times have medals
•This team has 8 combined championships, twelve finals appearances, four MVP awards, countless first team all- NBA appearances, and about 40 all-star games played.
•Players include best point in NBA, Kobe Briant and Most valuable player of the year 2004, Kevin Garnett
However, both USA men basketball teams failed to get the gold medal on the two events. Even in the world championship in 2006 they failed again. Evaluating about the USA team, one Greek player said:
”..It’s hard for one team, if they have so many big players… All these players are big stars, but you have to do small different things. I think that was the difference: in our team, everybody knew what they had to do exactly…. May be we are not very good athletes like them, but we know how to play the game…”
Greek guard Theodoros Papaloukas – after defeat USA team in semifinal of world championship 2006
If you think your team is suffering from team conflict or could improve the cohesive factor to perform better, please contact us now for a consultation. |
