Fostering Relationships: Are you a Team, Group or Troop?

Team - A set of individuals who use their core strengths and a defined decision-making system to accomplish a common goal under the direction of a trusted leader and who create and revisit big memories along the way.

Group - A set of individuals.

Troop - A set of young individuals identified by matching outfits and either selling cookies or setting something on fire McGyver style.

There are five clear characteristics of an actual working team:

1. A trusted leader.


2. An agreed upon goal.


3. An agreed upon decision-making system.


4. The creation and revisiting of big memories.


5. Each individual is engaging their core strength.

Take a look at your "set of individuals" and cross-reference your experience with these five characteristics. The secret to your group becoming an actual team probably lives in this list.

Processing Questions for PLI Curriculum Teachers/Trainers:


1. Which of the three do you consider your members to be classified as?

2. If you were to ask an outside source which of the three you should be classified as, what would their response be?

3. How would you feel about that response?

4. What are some actions steps you can take toward becoming a true team?

5. If you already consider yourself to be a team, then what can you do to ensure your team continues to function accordingly?

6. What “big memories” has your team made over time?

7. What qualities does your leader possess that deems them “trusted?”

8. What core strength do you contribute to a team in your life?