In a team, especially in a high performance oriented team, a key tenet is that team members put the objectives and goals of the team above their own for most of the time! (check out my LinkedIn Group on High Performance) .

Potentially this sets up a direct conflict with our identities. If our identities are powerful and central to us, putting the team first is going to be tough, especially where that requires us to do things or behave differently than our identity says we should.