As Director of PICA Manufacturing Asian Operations for over seven years, I’ve had the honor of leading our team to achieve the company’s objectives while staying true to the corporate strategy. So far we’ve exceeded our expectations, not only in terms of company revenue and profit, but also in employee engagement.

And what’s the number one lesson I’ve learned from the PICA Manufacturing success? No one can be successful without the help of teammates—it’s all about team building and team spirit.

People are the most valuable resources to small size companies. Ultimately, inside any organization, it’s people who make things happen and people who drive success. And the main factor that allows a team to work well together is a positive mindset, or as we call it in Chinese, Zheng Neng Liang (正能量). It’s an important rule of human interaction: one person with a positive attitude can motivate the rest of the team to invest in company performance.

This idea has led me to contemplate through all these years about how to magnify this “positive energy” and spread it among our company’s team members as well as to individuals external to the company. The answer is through team building!

Every company has their own definitions of team building. Mine is centered around basic human interactions, such as:

• Socializing and spending time together
• Looking after one another and helping each other out
• It’s never just ME, it’s WE
• Thinking of each other as a family

The goal is to make your team realize how powerful they can be if everyone channels this energy by helping each other out and aiming towards the same objective. I always remind my team members about the way wolves hunt a prey – it is through group strategy that the pack is able to take down the victim. Everyone knows their place and executes their specific role accordingly. This is pretty much what I want my team to understand about the concept of team building: forget about yourself (ego & selfishness) and understand that a great achievement comes from helping each other out. Ultimately this is what leads to team success —which is more meaningful than a person’s individual success!

During our annual off-site team building activities, the team usually plans a year in advance where the location will be and how it will align with the objectives set for that year. In the past 3 years we’ve been focusing on sites where the conditions are extreme, ranging from very cold to very hot climates. The team members really appreciate Pica’s commitment to these team building exercises and how it helps them excel in their respective functions.

Team Spirit runs deep in our hearts and will always play a large role in the management of my team.