I recently went to a presentation on teamwork. The most interesting point that the speaker made was that small groups of individuals with average intelligence will continually perform better on various tasks than one person of exceptional intelligence.

However, I'm an entrepreneur. Most of the time I'm working by myself. There's no group of like-minded individuals gathering at my office every day for powow sessions. There's no 'Kinetic' or 'Arrow' that have been put together to perform specific tasks. And I'm definitely not part of a group of athletes going for the gold.

But the truth is, I do have a team. We may not be in the same room working on the same problem at the same time, but I am part of a non-traditional team. I created a list of twenty-two people who are on my team and likely on yours if you are an entrepreneur.

Here they are:

1. My spouse
2. My children
3. My printer / publisher
4. My graphic designer
5. Those in my networking club
6. Other people who give me referrals
7. My parents / friends
8. My business coach
9. My web designer
10. My bank (or financial advisor)
11. Authors of any business or self-help books I've read
12. My computer technician
13. My auto shop
14. The company I use to access my email and internet
15. My office supply store
16. Business organizations I am a member of
17. The host of tradeshows that I have been a part of
18. My suppliers
19. Retail and book stores that I have merchandise in
20. Businesses that I refer clients to
21. My customers (great for feedback)
22. God

Quite a team once I think about it. Some are on my team for emotional support, some technical support, some suppliers etc. So, the skills that I would need on a traditional team are the same skills that I need to have on this formed team of mine - like being communicative, prepared and solution oriented. There is a long list of characteristics of good team players that I'm not going to list here. The simple reality is that if I want to be an entrepreneur who is successful, I need to be an effective team player.

Julie Chandler is the Executive Director of the Progressive Group for Independent Business Women (PGIBW) and the Founder of http://www.WomensPages.ca. [1] She has been on a CBC documentary, on ShawTV and was featured on the cover of the Careers section of newspapers across Canada. Julie has been on CFRB and has written for the Calgary Herald and Calgary's Child. Ms. Chandler's first book is due out in February 2008. She can be contacted at (403) 720-2143 or visit her websites at http://www.pgibw.ca [2] and http://www.womenspages.ca [3]