feature · December 2022
Team Building
by Deborah Neary When George Madiou invited me to write an article for his magazine, I was honored, excited and a little bit intimidated by the concept of deadlines and commitments. The subject, “Rewarding yourself,” proved to be a challenge for me because I started to… Sign up f
Team building in the context of network marketing is often misunderstood. I’m hoping this little metaphorical article will help you feel expansive and open up a whole bushel of possibilities and will encourage you to feel comfortable and excited about carefully picking your team in an organic way.
The apple orchards in my neck of the woods, in beautiful upstate New York, offer many species of apples. We have green, red, pink, and every variety you can imagine, all growing in a “network” of trees.
When we go pick those apples, we can choose which ones we like and we can see that there are many apples that have fallen and a few rotten ones that we really should leave alone.
There are apples that are not ready to be picked because they are not quite ripe and then there are the juicy ripe ones near the top of the tree and we will climb a little or jump to catch them and add them to our bushel. There are always the low-hanging fruits, they are the easy ones but not necessarily the best.
How does this relate back to team building? I would like to suggest that the reason we go apple picking is so we may choose which apples we will bring home.
Our human connections are made up of all the people we know and all the people we have had some sort of relationship with. Of course, there are family and friends and those we meet throughout our entire lives. Some of them become great friends and business partners and some we hardly ever see or contact but they are still part of our overall network.
Now, just because they are in our network does not make them team members. Mostly we only know a fraction of the people in our network so what makes them stand apart and what makes them a prospect to be considered as a team member?
Our network is limited to the people we meet in our lives and often we do not expand it unless we are looking specifically for something or someone. This is when we reach out to someone in our own network and ask if they know anyone who can help us. That is when we expand into their network. The magic of this business model is just that. Suddenly once we have found our small team of players we have developed our network of possibilities. Your team member’s network is now connected through a natural process.
So when you are thinking about your “team” think about this: Who do you want to expand with?
Who would you like to be playing the game of life with? Who would you love to make a difference for? Does this person have the qualities you see in a team player? Does this person have core values that you share? What are the characteristics that make them “qualify” to play with you?
Before you can know these answers it is crucial to spend time forming a relationship with them and listening to them with all your heart, because when you pick that team member, and they are a fit for your team, you will be spending many hours working with them building their team from their network and it should be fun fun fun!