Teamwork: A Necessity of Building a New Political Culture

By Peter R. Ramsaroop

There are so many good men and women out there who really want to help turn Guyana into the thriving country we all know it can be. Many of these individuals have worked tirelessly for years to fight for the people of Guyana.

Recently several smaller groups came together to form a partnership with the hope of building a group that could be a viable opponent against the nation’s entrenched political culture. In fact, two significant new parties have been formed with this goal in mind.

As with any grouping of humans, there are always going to be personality conflicts, value differences and varying strategies on how a goal should be accomplished. Every partnership should be aware of the various factors that could impede successful teamwork.

For example, egotism inhibits the development of a cohesive team. People may start to work together, but as soon as they realise they may not in charge, the teamwork disappears. This is true in all avenues of leadership, whether it is social, political or business partnerships – and such is the case with these new political parties.

At times it seems nearly impossible to surmount the daunting obstacles that stand in the way of building a contemporary political force in Guyana that is people centric, accountable and ready to transform this nation.

However, I am convinced that if there is to ever be a force that can stop the incessant rule of the ingrained political culture, all of these various individuals, groups and forces must come together and work as a team toward this one common, honourable goal.

There is no doubt that Guyana is at a crucial fork in road and the decision made in the next elections will determine a path that can either move the nation forward into a promising future or allow it to take the final steps to complete deterioration.

That is why it is so important that all of these various “new force” factions find a way to work together for the good of the country. We need to build a strong unified coalition to show the people that we care more about Guyana than we do about our own separate agendas.

Woodrow Wilson once said, “We should not only use all the brains we have, but all that we can borrow.” This concept should be applied to the current state of the various third force parties. Separately, we may achieve minimal success, but together we have the potential to attain the ultimate goal, the complete dethroning of the PPP.

At this point, we cannot – and should not – allow egos and personality conflicts to cause us to loose sight of the vision. We have a responsibility to the nation to put ourselves aside and focus on winning as many seats as possible in the next election.

That said, there are also other factors that can create obstacles for any group that is trying to work together toward the same goal. Value differences often present difficulties in the fusion of the team, but these difficulties do not have to be deal breakers.

Another great quote on leadership is by Bud Wilkinson, who said, “If a team is to reach its potential, each player must be willing to subordinate his personal goals to the good of the team.” I truly believe there are times when the ultimate goal should take precedence over the smaller individual goals of the separate entities.

However, there are also certain values that must be championed by the third force parties, such as the inclusion of all racial groups in the newly developing political culture. There should only be one race in Guyana – the human race.

No one in Guyana should be marginalize. To continue the insanity of following the same flawed perceptions that have created a political climate of separatism and elitism is nothing less than nationally sadistic.

We all need to realise that the woes of the past should not be carried into today’s politics. Racial politics should not be accepted in any group. Any party that says they will not work with Afro-Guyanese that belong to an existing party should not be allowed to campaign – and vice versa.

If the new parties are not willing to separate themselves from the old political culture in this regard, then there really is no reason whatsoever to even waste our time with new these endeavours.

However, together with a common goal of a better Guyana – a Guyana with no marginalisation and no elitism – we can unify the nation and win back the future for our children. Those that keep one foot in the old and try one foot in the new needs to realize you either need both feet to walk or the other foot will be stuck in the old mud.

In his book “The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork,” John Maxwell said, “The difference between two equally talented teams is leadership.” Let there be no mistake, the long-standing political culture in Guyana is a formidable opponent. If there is any hope at winning Guyana’s future, it is through unified teamwork with selfless group leadership.

Maxwell also said, “Where there is a will, there is a way; where there’s a team, there’s more than one way.” Guyana cannot afford for the third force parties to allow their egos and personal agendas to get in the way of the ultimate goal.

Now is the time to gather all visionaries from across the nation together, regardless of race or former political affiliation. Our focus should be to move forward, not to take ten steps back by falling into the trap of elitism.

Our common opponent would love to see our partnerships fall to pieces. The PPP would love to see us fail. But we cannot - we must not – fail. We need to check our proverbial compasses and make sure we are all going in the same direction.

The more of us that are moving toward this noble goal, the better our chances are of achieving success. The larger our team, the more ways there are to help get Guyana on a road to recovery.

Let’s gather all of the brainpower we can muster, and when we have done that, let’s then borrow even more brainpower, because even though we may have egos and personality conflicts, we are still all Guyanese with a vision.