Building a team is one of the most challenging tasks any leader will face and hope to achieve. As I see it, a team forms itself and, therefore, needs history. In other words, the team is the experience each member has as individuals over a long period. None are identical; all are different, which is what separates one team from another.
I created environments for children and staff to play, learn, work, and live together. The pragmatic working philosophy gave college students responsibility for building strong and caring relationships between themselves, eight kids of similar age and sex, and an assistant teenage junior counselor. They lived together in tight quarters that they could completely rebuild to suit their own needs and often did just that.
The whole point was that each group was its own camp. That was how our counselors were trained. The idea was to bring responsibility to its most personal level for themselves and those they lived with.
This group living experiment led to other successful programs that became known worldwide. It also led to adult organizations of every kind.
When studied, the best teams are not individuals lost in the mix of a group who look and act as one, but individuals being entirely themselves. It’s never an easy thing to accomplish.
I join with my group—They join with me together—We are one, yet more
Author: Sy Ogulnick
Sy Ogulnick received a BA from UCLA, Teacher’s Credential from Los Angeles Board of Education and completed phase I (Master’s portion) in a Doctor of Behavioral Science program at California Coast University. Sy leased and operated a summer day camp in LA. He and his wife then purchased virgin wilderness land in Northern CA, where they built and operated a coed summer camp. They moved to Las Vegas, NV, and purchased, built and operated a community children’s program for families staying in a major resort casino in Las Vegas. They have created programs for children nationwide that employed many people and in the process developed successful training programs for personnel. This led Sy to lecture on how to train staff and the creating of community within the workplace. Sy was then invited to speak at professional conferences on how best to hire and train employees, which led to his becoming a consultant in the art of improving relationships in a work environment and eventually to his epiphany that “Leaders are the primary problem and the answer to the personnel issues that arise in the workplace.” Sy has written numerous papers on the subject of interpersonal relationships, leadership and power. He has lectured throughout the United States, has been interviewed by the media and has appeared on many radio and TV talk shows
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