Skills needed for teamwork
Companies today want people who are team players, people who are able to get along with their colleagues and work together in a cohesive group.
There are seven essential skills that one must learn in order to be able to successfully adopt the concept of teamwork. These skills are:-
1. Listening - it is important to listen to other people's ideas. When people are allowed to freely express their ideas, these initial ideas will produce other ideas.
2. Questioning - it is important to ask questions, interact, and discuss the objectives of the team.
3. Persuading - individuals are encouraged to exchange, defend, and then to ultimately rethink their ideas.
4. Respecting - it is important to treat others with respect and to support their ideas.
5. Helping - it is crucial to help one's coworkers, which is the general theme of teamwork.
6. Sharing - it is important to share with the team to create an environment of teamwork.
7. Participating - all members of the team are encouraged to participate in the team.

The Story Doesn't End Here…
The nice thing about teamwork is that you always have others on your side.
Once upon a time a tortoise and a hare had an argument about who was faster. They decided to settle the argument with a race. They agreed on a route and started off the race. The hare shot ahead and ran briskly for some time. Then seeing that he was far ahead of the tortoise, he thought he'd sit under a tree for some time and relax before continuing the race. He sat under the tree and soon fell asleep. The tortoise plodding on overtook him and soon finished the race, emerging as the undisputed champ. The hare woke up and realized that he'd lost the race.
The moral- "Slow and steady wins the race. This is the version of the story that we've all grown up with."
THE STORY DOESN'T END HERE, there are few more interesting things.....it continues as follows......
The hare was disappointed at losing the race and he did some soul-searching. He realized that he'd lost the race only because he had been overconfident, careless and lax. If he had not taken things for granted, there's no way the tortoise could have beaten him. So he challenged the tortoise to another race. The tortoise agreed. This time, the hare went all out and ran without stopping from start to finish. He won by several miles.
The moral - " Fast and consistent will always beat the slow and steady. It's good to be slow and steady; but it's better to be fast and reliable."
THE STORY DOESN'T END HERE
The tortoise did some thinking this time, and realized that there's no way it can beat the hare in a race the way it was currently formatted. It thought for a while, and then challenged the hare to another race, but on a slightly different route. The hare agreed. They started off. In keeping with his self-made commitment to be consistently fast, the hare took off and ran at top speed until he came to a broad river. The finishing line was a couple of kilometres on the other side of the river. The hare sat there wondering what to do. In the meantime the tortoise trundled along, got into the river, swam to the opposite bank, continued walking and finished the race.
The moral - " First identify your core competency and then change the playing field to suit your core competency."
THE STORY STILL HASN'T ENDED.
The hare and the tortoise, by this time, had become pretty good friends and they did some thinking together. Both realized that the last race could have been run much better. So they decided to do the last race again, but to run as a team this time. They started off, and this time the hare carried the tortoise till the riverbank. There, the tortoise took over and swam across with the hare on his back. On the opposite bank, the hare again carried the tortoise and they reached the finishing line together. They both felt a greater sense of satisfaction than they'd felt earlier.
The moral - "It's good to be individually brilliant and to have strong core competencies; but unless you're able to work in a team and harness each other's core competencies, you'll always perform below par because there will always be situations at which you'll do poorly and someone else does well.
Teamwork is mainly about situational leadership, letting the person with the relevant core competency for a situation take leadership.
Note that neither the hare nor the tortoise gave up after failures. The hare decided to work harder and put in more effort after his failure. The tortoise changed his strategy because he was already working as hard as he could."
In life, when faced with failure, sometimes it is appropriate to work harder and put in more effort. Sometimes it is appropriate to change strategy and try something different. And sometimes it is appropriate to do both. The hare and the tortoise also learnt another vital lesson. When we stop competing against a rival and instead start competing against the situation, we perform far better.
To sum up, the story of the hare and tortoise has much to say:
Chief among them are that
fast and consistent will always beat slow and steady;
work to your competencies;
pooling resources and working as a team will always beat individual performers;
never give up when faced with failure;
& finally, compete against the situation - not against a rival.

Frog in a Milk-Pail
A frog was hopping around a farmyard, when it decided to investigate the barn. Being somewhat careless, and maybe a little too curious, he ended up falling into a pail half-filled with fresh milk.
As he swam about attempting to reach the top of the pail, he found that the sides of the pail were too high and steep to reach.
He tried to stretch his back legs to push off the bottom of the pail but found it too deep.
But this frog was determined not to give up, and he continued to struggle.
He kicked and squirmed and kicked and squirmed, until at last, all his churning about in the milk had turned the milk into a big hunk of butter.
The butter was now solid enough for him to climb onto and get out of the pail!
"Never Give Up!"

Story of a baby frog
Once upon a time there was a bunch of baby frogs.... participating in a competition.
The target was to get to the top of a high tower.
A crowd of people had gathered to observe the race and encourage the participants..... The start shot rang out.......
Quite honestly:
None of the onlookers believed that the baby frogs could actually accomplish getting to the top of the tower.
Words like: "Åh, it's too difficult!!! They'll never reach the top." or: "Not a chance... the tower is too high!"
One by one some of the baby frogs fell off… ...Except those who fastly climbed higher and higher..
The crowd kept on yelling:
"It's too difficult. Nobody is going to make it!"
More baby frogs became tired and gave up... But one kept going higher and higher..... He was not about giving up!
At the end everybody had given up, except the one determined to reach the top!
All the other participants naturally wanted to know how he had managed to do what none of the others had been able to do!
One competitor asked the winner, what was his secret?
The truth was....... The winner was deaf!!!!
The lesson to be learned:
Don't ever listen to people who are negative and pessimistic...
…they will deprive you of your loveliest dreams and wishes you carry in your heart!
Always be aware of the power of words, as everything you hear and read will interfere with your actions!
Therefore: Always stay… POSITIVE!
And most of all:
Turn a deaf ear when people tell you, that you cannot achieve your dreams!
Always believe: You can make it!

THE VALUE OF CHALLENGE
Challenge is life's way of making sure that you truly desire the things you achieve. Challenge is an excellent tool for keeping you focused on the things that really matter to you.
Imagine for a moment what it would be like to live in a world with no challenge. In such a world, you could obtain anything and everything with no need for effort, discipline or commitment.
Does that sound like a great setup, with your every wish fulfilled the moment you think of it?
Well, it might be nice for 20 minutes or so, but it would soon grow extremely tiresome. For such a world would literally overwhelm you with meaningless triviality.

Sure, every wish would be instantly granted, but it would all be painfully empty.
The value of achievement is in the achieving, in the overcoming of the challenges, in the person you become as a result of going through the process. To have the reward without the effort is to have no reward at all, nothing but an empty and meaningless token.
Challenge is difficult, often painful, always demanding, and as such, challenge is what makes true value, beauty and fulfillment possible. Challenge can be tough, yet indeed it brings about the richness and fullness of life.

Swap Success for little Comforts
Most people give up success for small comforts and rewards. They watch TV,sleep-in, go out frequently. They put things off until tomorrow. Things pass them by. Successful people also enjoy their comforts, but they take them when they've become successful. They take their rewards in a terrace cafe in Monaco.
Luckily there is a trick where you can have some comforts now, say to yourself I will go to Starbucks when I've finished writing that report. I will allow myself to watch the film if I get a chapter of me eBook finished.

No steam or gas drives anything until it is confined. No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated, disciplined.
~ Harry Emerson Fosdick

Success is Predictable
It's so easy to fall into the trap of thinking successful businesses and world-class people started out that way. So easy to be seduced into thinking that those who achieve the extras got there through lucky breaks and superior talents. Not true. Every dream starts off small.
Sam Walton started with a single store (Wal-Mart is now the world's largest company). U2 started with its first gig. Picasso started with his first painting. And then each and every day they took small, focused steps into the direction of the mountaintop.
Success is no accident. Instead, it's a choice - and one you can make today. By reaching higher. By being bolder and by investing in yourself. Because as you learn more, you can be more.

The place where your greatest fears live is also the place where your greatest growth lies.--Robin Sharma