Teamwork

Have you, in your life, been part of something truly excellent, created, at least partially, by you? Something that made you think afterwards: -”How on earth did I pull that off?” or -”I had no idea I was capable of that…“? Think carefully, as this doesn’t have to be work related, it can be your first-born child, the first time you won a major sports event or when you pulled off that solo during a live concert in front of 3000 people. Chances are you have had that feeling at some point.

Now, if you think back to that event, that thing (whatever it was, unless winning on the lottery): did you really pull it off all by yourself? Again, chances are you had help (particularly if you were thinking about your kids), or that you were part of a team that “made magic” just by working together, be it by parents, partners, team members, coaches or managers.

Let me help you to push you

Fire by Steve Snodgrass

The thing is, most often people, almost without knowing it, give themselves challenges they know (sub consciously or not) that they actually can achieve, within the remits of their skills as they perceive them. If all you’ve got is a hammer, most problems indeed often do look like a nail, and regardless of how good you are with that hammer there will be no awesome house unless you re-think a few things.

Most often the catalyst for a reflection such as -”I had no idea I was capable of that…” comes from the fact you either were pushed beyond your own limits, or that your role within the team was enhanced by your team members complementing you to such a degree you all came out of it with a bigger/better understanding of yourselves and your capabilities.

Quite often you need the “chaos factor” to be thrown in, often by someone else. You know, that thing you didn’t think of, and which you couldn’t foresee, but which does make perfect sense, particularly in hind-sight, and which weirdly turned into one of the winning excellent features of what you just achieved.

Winning is a habit

Jenson Button by w3i_yu

It is very rare that true excellence comes from one single person, and if that happens it is even rarer that it can be repeated again and again over a long period of time, whereas it is not uncommon at all that a winning team spur each other on, and keep winning trophy after trophy. They get nigh on addicted on that winning feeling and they help carry each other when a team member is falling behind (which happens…we are but human after all).

Most well oiled teams don’t have dead weight, nor do they differ much in skill levels even though their skills can be vastly different much like a keeper and a forward have different roles in a football team (that’d be soccer for our American friends). I’m pretty sure Lewis Hamilton knows the names and the roles of his pit team as well even though he is the one walking up on that podium.

Shoot ‘em down

Alone

-”But“, I hear you say, “surely there is a multitude of examples of excellence from solo people?” Hmm…this is where I’m hoping you aren’t thinking about, say, Michael Jackson, Madonna and other music stars, given that they most often have help with song-writing, music publishing, tour management, belly-button-fluff-removal etc. The flipside of that coin would be to name (almost) any member of a great band that has made it as big as a solo artist. Even Elton John, who most consider a solo artist, swears he wouldn’t be anywhere without Bernie Taupin and the dynamic they create together.

Jonathan Ive by marcopako 

Steve Jobs would have struggled quite a bit without Jonathan Ive, who in turn would have struggled without his team, as at least I don’t think Jonathan wakes up in the middle of the night with an epiphany which he then dictates to his mediocre team (in a remote country somewhere, but oh-so-cheap they come) regardless of their input. I think he instead, no doubt being very talented, instead acts as a catalyst and an inspiration for the extremely talented guys working for him, close to him. I think he trusts them. I think they trust him. I think they know exactly where each others roles start/end and how they feed off each other. I think it is about teamwork, and I think that team loves being in that team, and that THAT is a big part of what makes it tick in the first place and keep them being high performing.

Teamwork increase chance of consistent Excellence

Michael and Quincy

I think most excellence is about teamwork, and if you are a manager or a team leader it is your role to facilitate this for your team, and with your team. Be Eltons Bernie. Be Steve’s Jon. Be Michaels Quincy. And do notice I didn’t reverse any of those roles, on purpose.

Point being, if you have a well-oiled team, who knows each other and each others skills, and who trust each other, the chance of innovation, of improvising and experimenting on the fly when things you predicted didn’t really materialise, this can take you to (greater) places no plan could have foreseen. Worst case scenario will be that you did everything in your power with the best talent you could find, which should be a whole lot better than quite a few alternatives.

Just remember that the sum of the whole is greater than its parts.