TEAM = Together, Everyone Achieves More…but how, exactly?
Former pro-footballer and friend of RTO spells out the best ways to success
When Derrick Brooks talks about teamwork, people listen.
Just a sampling of the native Floridian’s litany of football-linebacker accolades clearly delineates how successful he has been serving as part of a team: NCAA National Championship team member; first-round draft pick and 14-year career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; 11-time Pro Bowl-er and Pro Bowl MVP; 9-time All-Pro; Super Bowl champion; and Pro Football Hall of Famer.
And, while he was tackling, sacking, intercepting, and returning for one team on the field, Brooks was also investing in, guiding, and empowering young people in his community via another team he created himself. Now under the umbrella of Derrick Brooks Charities, what Brooks began during his debut year as a pro-baller has become an educational and supportive lifeline for hundreds of disadvantaged youngsters.
“[Brooks] built a name for himself, then leveraged his achievements to rally others to team up in the community and make a difference,” notes the organization’s website [www.derrickbrookscharities.org]. “Every year, the number of volunteers, supporters, and dreamers grows, as does the impact on the youth in our community. [We] aim to throw the rope back and help pull them forward. The collective hope and vision is that the youth of today grow and excel from our programs and become the next team members to throw the rope back.”
“Everything I’ve been able to achieve in life has required a team, it has required the efforts of others,” echoes Brooks himself. “I’ve always depended on the help of someone else next to me going through the same grit and grind, sacrifices, perseverance, to achieve a goal. I’ve always been astounded by the power of a team.”
So, yeah, Derrick Brooks knows just a little bit about the exponential strength intrinsic in teamwork. And when he imparts some wisdom about how to harness that force for positive results, people perk up.
There is no “I” in team. Teamwork makes the dream work. Teamwork divides the tasks and multiplies the successes.
Everyone has come across these ubiquitous maxims many times – to the point of eyeroll-inducing overuse. So, Derrick Brooks decided to dig a little deeper.
“I’ve heard this a thousand times from coaches, seen it written up on locker room walls: the word TEAM used as an acronym for Together, Everyone Achieves More,” he explains. “And I began to wonder, how? How do we achieve more together? And I went on a kind of quest to come up with another TEAM acronym that reveals how does a team work?”
T = TRUST
“The T for me is Trust,” Brooks begins. “To be part of a team and to come together as a team, you’ve got to have a foundation of trust. For me, that starts with my faith, followed closely by my marriage – I earn my wife’s trust every single day. And then, of course I think of football. We have to come together in that locker room from diverse backgrounds – some guys are rookies, some are older; some guys are single, some are married, some guys you can’t tell. It doesn’t matter what you look like or how strong you are or how fast you are. You’ve all got to come together and build that trust. It’s the trust you share with each other that matters.”
E = EFFORT
“Coming together and building that trust takes effort,” continues Brooks. “You can’t earn trust by sitting still; you must make an effort, do something. Being part of a team means everyone is trying, striving, taking action.”
Brooks notes that talent is a non-factor when it comes to effort; all that’s required of team members is to make the effort to the best of their capabilities.
“Effort is a competition between two people – you and you,” he concludes. “You decide the amount of effort you need to exert to get the job done. If you and your team members give your best effort, that becomes a formula for winning.”
A = ACCOUNTABILITY
“At all levels of achievement, no matter how large or how small, you’ve got to have some accountability measurements in place,” attests Brooks. “For RTO, it’s numbers, it’s sales, it’s retention – developing a relationship and turning a customer into a client. Accountability has to be at the core whenever you’re part of a team, and you can’t be afraid of it – embrace it. You can’t run away from it; you must want that bright spotlight shining on you.”
Brooks asserts that on successful teams, every member knows what the goals are and what every individual is accountable for. Additionally, great leaders need to ensure they’re providing the right resources for team members to fulfill their accountability measurements.
“For a healthy team environment, everybody should know what every member is accountable for – it’s no secret,” reiterates Brooks. “But the beautiful thing about it is you’re not standing alone; you’re standing beside your teammates – your colleagues and your leaders – and you’re all going through the grind together.
“In football, it’s pretty simple: we were measured by wins and losses,” he continues. “But in rent-to-own today, you’ve got to understand what your accountability measures are and as you achieve them, don’t be satisfied with the status quo – keep on raising the bar for yourself and your team.”
M = MOTIVATION
“Motivation is like showering every day – either you do it, or you stink,” Brooks chuckles. “No one wants to be around someone who smells bad; I want to be around people who smell good, who are motivated to achieve, whose words and actions are aligned. I want to soak up the energy of someone who I can tell is getting up every day wanting more and feeling motivated to go get it.”
But on a team, members may not be motivated by the same things, and what motivates them is likely to change and evolve over time. Again, team leaders have to suss out and track the pulse of what each member’s motivation is – because the team needs everyone to be motivated in their own individual ways, so that when they come together as a team, they can make more happen.
“Motivation can’t be selfish,” explains Brooks. “Just because you and I have different motivations, if they’re helping us move together toward team goals, there’s nothing selfish about that; that’s inner drive, that’s progress, and that’s what is necessary to achieve as a team.”
Speaking not only as a football legend, but as someone who has been involved in rent-to-own – as a client, investor, or friend – for more than 25 years, Derrick Brooks hopes that RTO owners, managers, and employees alike will take his TEAM approach to heart.
“Consider your industry as Team RTO, and let’s continue to influence the world with a positive attitude, knowing Together, Everyone Achieves More as part of this team,” Brooks encourages. “It warms my heart to see how this business has stayed at the core culture, how essential you guys have been during the pandemic, being there for families and being part of bringing folks together. So let’s keep earning that trust, maximizing our effort, embracing that accountability, and by God, we’re going to shower – motivation-wise – every day, so we can keep smelling good!”
Kristen Card has been a contributing writer for RTOHQ: The Magazine for more than 15 years.
