Individual Leadership and the Joys of Teamwork

I had worked at many places but had never taken an Individual Leadership role. When I was working at a middle school as a teacher, there was little leadership and a friend and I decided that we could be leaders in some areas. The friend was 12 years older than me, and grew up in a different culture. But, we had the same values and commitments for our students and wanted to see things change. We took leadership roles on various projects and saw positive results. I enjoyed coming to school because my quality of life had dramatically improved. We took leadership roles that others did not know, and we found success because of our planning and implementation. Individual Leadership worked for our students and for us.

After leaving the middle school I worked for a Texas Education Service Center. For the first time in my life I experienced the Belief/Intimacy level of teamwork. In the Instructional Services Department where I worked we hired the right people who took leadership roles on their activities. We worked overtime consistently and we worked as a team to solve problems and to set positive goals for the future. Each person was an Individual Leader for the goals of their mission. We were completely open and honest with each other and provided support when it was needed. This was a unique program that accomplished positive results in almost all areas. The Belief/Intimacy level of teamwork was fabulous for us and for our clients.

This book is about Individual Leadership and how you can make it happen on your own. We should not be dependent only on our bosses. As individuals, we can improve our quality of life by taking care of ourselves and by forming positive relationships with other team members. Chapter 1 of this book defines levels of teamwork, the RR Track Model. Chapter 2 defines ways that we can take care of ourselves physically and mentally so we can be leaders and models. The rest of the chapters show specific ways that we can build positive relationships and quality teams.