There's lots of 'i's in team.

I'm on the Scilly Isles just off the Cornish coast this week. The annual holidays where we walk a lot, drink a lot and play games of cricket against the local island teams. My brother is the organiser and my nephew is the captain.

We played the island of Tresco last night. It got me thinking. Our team is made up of people from all walks of life, all ages and our opening bowler is Eve. It's a very different and very individual team. And yet we played well as a unit, even taking a team hat-trick of wickets at one stage. OK, we lost at the end, but it was close.

Three more games to go and we're ready to go again against the island of St. Mary's on Saturday afternoon.

It was a bit like my last sales team - well, a bit. A team of individuals with totally different styles. Some played the long game, others valued the quick sale, but all were friends and actually helped each other, because we were a close-knit unit.

This is the biggest problem nowadays, especially with sales teams. In this cut-and-thrust world, you only get one or two chances and then you're assessed on targets, goals and results... and, if you don't measure up, you're on your way. Everyone is taught to sell in the same way. Some teams even have pre-written dirges to trot out on every phone call. The individuality has gone. It's not even encouraged. This makes for dire sales meetings, where there's a lot of tired, anxious nodding heads, no real ideas floated and everyone watching their backs and working out who to blame.

The worst thing is that companies say they value individuality, but in practice, they really don't. It's disruptive and deliberately moves the team away from what the statistics and management say. The human touch is not what is wanted in a world where analytics rule and everyone concentrates on 'the customer journey' and not the 'staff journey'.

Sales and cricket teams are packed with individuals who can add something different to the mix. In our team yesterday, Eve bowled slow but accurately, Tom hurled them down while Paul and Reece span them viciously. I watched, hoping not to get injured.

Somehow it worked and we all went to the pub after in good spirits feeling that we had done ourselves justice, even though we had lost.

And that's another thing - losing is not the end of the world. It just makes you appreciate the victories even more. Another human touch, long lost on sad, anxious sales teams of today. The pressure of high targets and goals reached have become the mantra for companies trying to make a penny. Ironically, a more 'human' team, based purely on 'gut' instinct, might have its failings, but in the world of sales, is becoming more and more vital to eventual success. We are, after all, dealing with other people, not computers.