the cost of team-building

Part of what makes team-building so hard is its cost. There are personal costs, political costs, and organizational costs--plus the cost of time. Yet people who've been on a performing team often want to get back on one, and managers are often hoping to create them. I think that listing some of the costs may help us understand the resistance to team-building / gelling:

cost	benefit
loss of independence	we accomplish more than we'd do alone
increased visibility of mistakes	our team is there to help us when we fall
increased visibility of weaknesses	" " "
with more trust in teammates comes more vulnerability that they'll let you down	more connection and support
full presence requires more energy	we relish more in our success
decreased recognition from management for individual contributions	much more constructive feedback and learning opportunities from peers
organizations lose some control when a group has gelled--a self-organizing team does what it chooses, rather than always doing what the organization has requested	unprecedented levels of productivity and value