Create team spirit : the story of the mammoth

If you have the impression that in your team , it is every man for himself, then discover the story of the mammoth and adapt it your  own context

Imagine that we are a tribe of nomadic Cro-Magnons.

One of our scouts comes back from the plain very excited for he has seen a mammoth close to the camp. The community gets ready for the hunt and everyone has a role : the skilled hunters polish their weapons,  the youngest sharpen their arrows, the old women darn the hunters' shoes so that they won't slip. The children adorn camouflage outfits. Everyone leaves for the hunt and those who remain behind are getting ready to skin and butcher the beast. The mammoth is painstakingly killed and thanks to its wool ,its leather, its meat, and its grease, the community now  has clothes, food and heat for many weeks ; they're saved !

The summer ends and the community decamps to take ups its winter quarters. As it is going through the plain, a mammoth suddenly charges the troop . Nobody is prepared for this and it is “catch us if you can” and every man for himself ! The strongest and youngest manage to flee,  but the weakest are trampled. La community is decimated !

What this teaches is that the mammoth is neither intrinsically good nor bad.

→ Placed ahead as an object of conquest, the mammoth will give rise to generous behaviors. Everyone accomplishes their task for the community's benefit , everyone stands to gain, strong ones and weaklings alike .

→ Left behind, the mammoth will produce selfish behaviors. It is every man for himself,  the weaklings are abandoned ;  the group loses and the strong ones too, in the end.

In your team it is the same. If every man works for himself and seeks to protect his own little goals, his own little perimeter, that is because there is a strong feeling of resentment towards the difficulties and the stakes . If you want to change attitudes, the challenges need to become exciting  for everyone and rooted in a collective adventure that bears the ambition for  conquest.