Team Development 133
tion. He had to, since GE was taking over so many different kinds of
businesses. ‘‘I spend 60 percent of my time on people stuff, and that’s
the way it should be. I couldn’t produce a show on NBC, I couldn’t
build an engine... So my involvement revolves around people.’’^8
Welch has put his money (and his body) where his mouth is. He spends
a large portion of his time helicoptering to GE’s famed Management
Development Center in Crotonville to address groups of managers to
help them develop into better leaders and to help them develop their
own teams.
THEIMPORTANCE OFTEAMS
Since biblical times, people have gotten the most done when they
worked cooperatively in teams. Although they didn’t actually use the
termteam,the leaders of the Bible realized that a team is more than the
sum of its parts. They had not yet heard of the wordsynergy,but they
had seen it enough in action to describe it: ‘‘Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his
friend can help him up... Though one may be overpowered, two can
defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not easily broken.’’ (Eccles.
4)
Nehemiah realized this when he assembled teams of Hebrews to re-
construct the wall around Jerusalem:
Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the
wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords,
spears and bows... From that day on, half of my men did the work,
while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor
...Sowecontinued the work... from the first light of dawn till the
stars came out. (Neh. 4)Nehemiah knew the power of a team with complementary strengths
(building and fighting) and an overriding purpose (the protection of
their families and the building of a nation).