Team Maggot

One thing that I learned when I was still a member of the “respectable” corporate world is that you can force people to work together, but you cannot force them to be a team. Simply calling a group of people a “team” is not enough. Referring to each other as “teammates”, or to the coach as a “team leader” doesn’t cut it either. People can even work together in a spirit of friendship, pulling for a common cause, and still lack the cohesiveness of a team. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are wasted each and every year by corporations on so-called “team building” exercises, only to have the intended “teams” slide back into the daily grind of mutual and overwhelming resentment. Team building, it would seem, is as elusive as it is rewarding.

Over the last 10 weeks or so, I have had the rare privilege of watching and being a part of a growing and thriving team. Team Maggot didn’t start as Team Maggot, or Team Anything for that matter. This bunch started as a couple of friends who just wanted to get in shape, one of whom had a husband similarly motivated. The husband, luckily enough, not only had once been through the rigors of getting in shape (and then out) himself, he also happened to have a background in management and team building. As that husband, who supposedly brought the “important” ingredients to the table, I am humbled to observe the transformation of these three from “two friends and a husband” to Team Maggot.

This is where I would love to brag about my insights as a manager. Or, better yet, I’d love to brag about my prowess as a personal trainer. This paragraph could end with me singing my own praises about my awesomeness in general. After all, Team Maggot is a shining example, in every way, of what a team truly is and, hey, I am the guy holding the notebook. Looks, as they say, can be deceiving.

Before I expose myself as the most minor member of this extraordinary trio, let me tell you a little about why Team Maggot is so unique.

Contrary to what people may think, simply “choosing sides” does not make a team. As I have said, even working toward a common cause often does not cut it either. While a common cause (or causes) is critical to success, the sense that we will “sink or swim together” is absolutely paramount. Team Maggot exhibits this trait in spades. If one member is down, so is the team. If one member experiences success, so do the others. Struggles, difficulties, triumphs and successes are shared by all. There is strength in a team that is impossible when alone. No one is alone. Ever.

Any blind fool can see that the strength of Team Maggot lies squarely in Mandy. Her consistent loving attitude towards the team shows a confidence that inspires the others. No one is more genuine than Mandy. Keenly aware of the feelings of others and eager to provide help, she is also aware of one’s personal space; both physical and emotional. Her unique combination of intelligence, compassion, toughness and tenderness is rare, to say the least. Even more rare is the trueness of her beauty; again both physical and emotional.

The confidence that Mandy exudes, Courtney seems to lack, and that’s too bad. One would be hard pressed to live one or more lifetimes and meet another person as special as she. Perhaps her apparent unawareness of that fact is also endearing. Smart as a whip, funny, quick, emotional and vulnerable, Courtney brings to the team critical missing pieces unable to be provided by the other two. If Team Maggot had ancient, apostle-like names, hers would be “Courtney the Beloved.”

Me? I am just the guy holding the notebook. Sure I decide what exercises are done when and what weight should be used. And, almost daily, I am forced to tell the other members to step it up and quit yapping. I probably even look like I am in charge.

But, if you think that is the way to build a team, then you have not been paying attenton.