Once, there was a team…

I joined RJR Hungary in 1994. My job was to reorganise and build up the sales team and naturally, to boost our market share in collaboration with marketing. (Among others, we had products like Kossuth Extra.) I succeeded in gaining the confidence of the 20 strong sales team and we worked together. Within a few months, we had 50 people in yellow jeeps branded „Camel Trophy”. We introduced new products, boosted distribution, organised promotions. We spent a lot of time together and we never had problems with meeting the targets defined for us. Then in 1997, a decision was made by RJR to leave the Hungarian market, despite the success we had achieved. I quit. Though members of the sales team had lost their jobs, many of them continued to stay in touch and meet regularly. Once I was asked why we continued to stay in touch long after our team had vanished. Probably, because we had nice memories and we enjoyed working together. Most of my ex-team members have become successful since then, occupying management positions, or working as lawyers, or bankers or consultants, or entrepreneurs. Though they are successful, they still have time to meet and spend an evening together. Not long ago, we had one of these meetings and I became quite emotional. Seeing this, one of my ex-colleagues came up to me and asked me if I was proud of them. Sure – I answered and joined the karaoke party. In fact, nothing special happened, we were “simply” together. However, I know that it is quite difficult for outsiders to understand why we keep gathering after so many years. I wonder if we are really so special, an exception to the rule? The world has changed. Everything has accelerated and life has not become any easier. Generally, people have less time for each other. When I think of the past, I have to admit that our little team was built more instinctively than consciously. We had not yet heard about the theories of Herzberg, or McClelland concerning motivation. A coaching approach simply meant that we paid attention and learned from our mistakes. If I were faced with the same task today, I would be very happy with the result we achieved in 1994.