Photo by Caitlin D, used under Creative Commons licence.

I have a great management team at Panther Taekwondo Black Belt Academy.

The talent is all homegrown. I have people around me who have trained with me for 10 years and often for more. That makes us a cohesive team. My people have demonstrated commitment to Panther above personal issues. I’ve demonstrated my commitment to them,

But it doesn’t have to take ten years to build a strong team. you’re looking to build a strong team. The martial art of taekwondo can help you do this by offering  discipline and structure.

So how do we build this?

In our classes, 95% training attendance is required. That’s high. What it means is – no small excuses  are acceptable. As we say to our students: if your leg drops off on the way to training, hop along to training and you’ll still be in the team.

Team members can swap phone numbers and ring each other for support , which creates positive peer pressure. So there’s support from within the group as well as from leaders.

I also believe in structure and authority – even in hierarchy. That’s not a fashionable idea right now – but I’m not worried about being fashionable.  Children see me bow to my instructor –  so they wil lbow to theirs. We embed Korean traditional modes of conduct which I believe are quite simple guidelines to respect and good manners.  When we eat together as a group on tour, we follow the traditional Korean codes: you start eating after your instructor but must finish before he or she does, so your instructor is not waiting on you to finish, and ensure that the glasses of senior students and instructors are never less than half full.

It’s in small matters such as these – in respect, in consideration, in observation –  that teams are bonded and real cohesion develops.We make sure that everyone is aware of those around them and can rely upon and trust their fellow team members in large and small matters. Team building is about interdependence: having the confidence to rely upon and trust another person.

A team is like a bundle of twigs. Maybe you can break a twig by itself. But tie that bundle together – you’ve got an unbreakable unit.