TEAMWORK: THE TRUE DEFINITION

Weekly work experience as a CEO’s Intern

Praise ‘Kiola’ Olukotun

“You need to be in sync”

There’s a kind of strength you only discover when you stop trying to win alone.

On Monday, the CEO gave us a task and that was to set up her office for the shoot on Tuesday before her arrival. This is basically something we have done a few times since we respectively resumed our internship roles at her office, the only thing that was different was the teleprompter. We had to setup with a teleprompter.

Image caption: The CEO’s Interns at a Staff’s birthday celebration

A core part of every team is the feeling of shared humanity, the understanding that behind every role is a person with fears, hopes and brilliance. Showing up every day, not just for yourself but for others, and doing this consistently to get the job done as seamlessly as possible.

There’s a first time for everything and Tuesday was our first time with a teleprompter. As instructed the previous day, we did set up the teleprompter but we didn’t realize early enough that there was more to figure out beyond setting it up; trying it out. The CEO came in and as expected, time flew faster than ever. While some of us were trying to fix the camera on the teleprompter, others were either trying to download the right app or adjust the tripod stand. All hands were on deck to make sure that it worked.

Coupled with a few other factors, we eventually wasted her time for about an hour and were sent out of her office, and that meant we failed in the task we were given; to set up for the shoot before she arrived.

Winning is beautiful, but what truly defines a team is not just how and when it wins, but how they stand and act in the face of failure as well, and this is something I learnt on Tuesday. I learnt that failure in a team, when handled right, builds trust. When people choose not to blame but to understand, to be accountable for their faults and take lessons from the experience together, something stronger than success is formed, because in those moments, teamwork becomes deeply human. It says: “You are not alone in this” and this turns mistakes into bridges instead of walls.

The CEO once said “you need to be in sync” and that is an essential element for every team. The best teams are aware of the fact that mistakes will happen sometimes, but they refuse to fall apart no matter what. Because teamwork isn’t just about shared goals or divided tasks, it's about how each person is a piece that completes the puzzle, and a puzzle only makes sense when it's complete.

In the end, the real power of teamwork isn’t just in achieving goals, it’s in becoming the kind of people who can rise, rebuild, and keep moving, together.

Praise Olukotun
Communication & Content Intern