Team building and motivation in Barack Obama's 2008 campaign speech

Team Skills Barack Obama Speech Analysis

Team Skills: Barack Obama Speech Analysis

Team Building, Team Recognition and Obama's Speech

In viewing then-Senator Barack Obama's speech to his campaign workers in summer of 2008, certain facets of team building can be seen in viewing the context and delivery of the speech at hand. Obama begins with the assertion that in order for a true team to function in order to achieve a common goal, personal egos and motivations must be pushed aside and the goal of the group must be placed at the forefront of everything that team and its respective members do. He notes that in sticking with a goal and remaining invested in order to achieve a common goal, anything is possible, which is a part of team-building that has the capacity to drive people over long periods of time.

He notes that this "sticking to a goal" despite adversity is exactly what has happened in his own campaign for Democratic nominee. Obama notes that throughout the entirety of his campaign, team members in this campaign had consistently covered for each other, aided each other, and ultimately worked together to achieve what they had set out to do. Further, in making consistent mention that his own campaign was never truly about him, but about the collective -- the American people and the members of his staff -- he notes the remarkable and astonishing nature of what the team he's addressing has been able to achieve.

In noting the struggles and hardships that the team has faced, along with mention of their ultimate goal with Obama's election as Democratic nominee for President of the United States, Barack Obama is able to recognize his team's successes and additionally call them to further action without alienating them by giving credit to himself. He goes on to say that the team must be smarter, tougher, more rapid in response and essentially better in every capacity of their work because they are now responsible for the goals of the country as well as their own personal goals. He goes on to note the issues in his platform -- one by one -- in order to reiterate why his team is there in the first place, ensuring that the achievement of the Democratic nomination for President is by no means the end of the road for any of them. Finally, Obama closes with a final recognition of the team's work and an additional call to action which received thunderous applause from a team of campaigners that have become reinvigorated and ready to move on to more success and unified work.

Stockdale Paradox

The Stockdale Pardox notes that one must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end -- which one can never afford to lose -- with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of one's current reality -- whatever they might be (Hayes, 642). Obama does much to model the Stockdale Paradox in his speech, constantly noting the hard road ahead and the turmoil of the political landscape, while consistently noting that hope and perseverance have always been vital qualities of the campaign -- qualities that have led the campaign and the team at hand to success to this point in the campaign.

In viewing Obama's speech in comparison with the Stockdale Paradox, such assertions to hope and the current landscape proved to work in the campaign up to the point at which it was given, and ultimately proved to motivate his team to the ultimate success of his election as president which occurred months later.