Don Wehby, Guest Writer

Cricket World Cup fever is in the air. Who will win? Avid cricket-watchers are following the matches with gusto and the thrill of anticipation.

Will the Windies come out on top? Will we prove ourselves the greatest cricket team in the world?

The key to the success of the West Indies team cannot be the batting prowess of Brian Lara, or the expert bowling of Powell/Taylor.

Even all-rounders, like Marlon Samuels, cannot by themselves carry a match; the team's success in this World Cup is solely dependent on the level of teamwork that the Windies effect when playing their matches.

It is my hope that our team can make the most of their individual skills, while working in tandem to create an awesome display of what effective teamwork is and the success that we can reap from this.

The word 'team' is a fairly easy one to understand. We use it regularly without really thinking about the true concept of a team. The American Heritage Dictionary defines the word simply as 'a group organised to work together'. However, a team has to be more than just that simple definition.

In school, we were often organised into groups to work together on projects. Often thought of as pointless, we may not have seen that even then we were being encouraged to learn the principles of teamwork.

Personal, business success

While we may not have seen the importance of it then, as we got older and became more and more experienced, we came to understand teamwork to be one of the most important factors contributing to our success in life.

Teamwork is what creates success in both our personal lives - marriage for example is often described as a partnership - and our professional lives. In other words, effective teamwork is what allows us to make positive moves in the right direction. It is effective teamwork that can create the difference between success and failure.

Teamwork is really the concept of people working together to achieve a common goal. It is impossible to underestimate the importance of teamwork in sports, as it is through consistent teamwork that continued success will come.

It is, however, very possible to underestimate the importance of teamwork in organisations, as leaders can be unaware of the effect that a lack of teamwork can have.

In a team-oriented environment, each individual contributes to the success of the organisation/team, despite the differences in specific job functions.

What is important to understand, whether working in an organisation or on a sports team, is that the overall objectives of the organisation or team are most important; therefore, it is thebigger picture that drives your actions.

If a team member were to focus only on breaking world records in each Test match, his approach to the entire sport would be a self-serving one, and would in no way further the goals of the team. The fact is that as a team, the team's best interests are central to any actions undertaken.

Group not a team

I must make the distinction here between a group and a team. When organising a team, a group of persons are brought together to achieve a common purpose. However, if each member is self-serving, the group cannot be considered a team. A team is interdependent for overall performance and so it is only if its members are focused on helping one another to accomplish organisational/team objectives that the group can be considered a team. Genuine teamwork has to be value-based, therefore, it is imperative that all members of the team share the same values and understanding of the goals of the organisation. Being a team-player is an indication that the goals and the values of the team are important to you. If the value of teamwork is not recognised, however, it can result in wasted time and resources.

The success of any organisation, like the success of a cricket team, will depend very heavily on the level of teamwork displayed by all the members of the team. It is my hope that people recognise this and lead whatever type of team they are on to victory by capitalising on their individual skills and putting them together for the benefit of the team.

Don Wehby is CEO of GK Investment, a division of GraceKennedy Limited.

It was great to see the guys batting in partnership. That's what teamwork is about and it was special - Brian Lara, on the Windies win over India in a 2006 cricket test match.

Coming together is a beginning

Keeping together is progress

Working together is a success.

- Henry Ford