There are so many acronyms for the word TEAM aren’t there, but I think the most appropriate is Together Everyone Achieves More.
So often in life we try to carry on by ourselves when it would have been so much better if we’d used all the resources available to us from within our team. Team doesn’t just relate to your work team. It could mean your family, your friends, your sports team or any other team or group you’re a member of.
The power of team was really highlighted to me last night. My hobby for the past 26 years has been amateur drama. I started singing in musicals then moved on to plays. This week I’ve been performing every night in the local theatre in a production of Charles Dickens’ “David Copperfield”. As usual, I arrived in the dressing room around 6.40pm and together with the rest of the cast got busy getting into costume and applying make-up for curtain-up at 7.30pm. At around 7pm the director called us all into the largest dressing room. There was a serious problem and we weren’t sure if the show could go on – the man playing David Copperfield had been knocked off his bicycle en-route to theatre and had just arrived in A&E by ambulance where he was awaiting x-ray, stitches and Lord knows what else.
I’m sure you can imagine the feeling in the dressing room at that point. We were all worried about our leading man but we had an audience of around 100 people waiting for a performance. Could we really send them home? Could we really put on a performance? The decision was taken. The Show Must Go On!
A rapid re-casting of some of the other roles, an announcement made to the audience and curtain went up at 7.35pm, not bad all thing’s considered. The audience were on our side, you could feel them willing us to succeed, and were sure as hell weren’t going to let them down. There were a few hiccoughs, hardly surprising really. We put 2 intervals into the play and by the time the second interval arrived the original David was back from A&E (we’d sent one of our members, a doctor, to collect him from A&E) stitched, bandaged, bruised and battered but determined he was going on that stage.
A further announcement to the audience that the original David was now back and the cast would go back to it’s usual roles and the next Act opened to rapturous applause. We were stunned but in reality we weren’t surprised.
It was an amazing feat to be pulled off by a group of amateurs, something like that could have finished so many other groups, amateur or professional, but it shows just what can be achieved with the right passion, attitude, ability and resources.
It reminded me of my team – friends, family and business contacts – without whom I’d never have got through bankruptcy. In fact, without some of them I wouldn’t be here today to be able to write about it. They’re all listed here. They’ve all been thanked individually and this is my way of thanking them publicly
Take a look around you and identify your team, in whatever shape it takes, because with the right team behind you your Show really Can Go On and when it does, make sure you thank them and show your gratitude.
