In my last comment I spoke about the dark side of teams, something I believe each of us has had experience with at one point or another. So the question is, if this experience is so common, then why try? Why put so much emphasis on teamwork? There are a variety of responses to that question, but the first thought that pops into my head is because for the most part we do not really have a choice. The reality is much of what we do in the work world is done in groups. There are various levels of interaction, but there are very few roles in business life that do not require us to work with others at some point. And working well together is important.
Beyond the ‘we have to’ element however, I believe there are many good reasons to actually want to work in teams. For starters, I believe in synergy. I believe that more often than not a group of individuals working well together can accomplish a great deal more than individuals working separately – no matter how talented those individuals may be.
There are many examples of this, but the one I would like to highlight comes from the Winter Olympics that were held this past February. Even if you are not a sports fan, the Olympics probably drew you in at some point and for Canadians hockey is one of the biggest attention getters. This past year saw us win – for a second straight time – gold in both men’s and women’s hockey. The story of the women’s victory I will save for another time. For now, I think the men’s team illustrates well what I am trying to get at.
For those of us who follow hockey we will say that we have the most talented players in the world and that every time Canada ices its best players we expect to win. But obviously this is not the case; other countries also have many talented players, and we have not always won. We have learned the hard way that just putting talent together on the ice does not guarantee you success; it is how that talent works together.
What was impressive to me about the men’s gold medal win this past February was the overall consistency with which they approached each game. They did not seem to care what the press or fans had to say; they knew what they had to do to be successful and they stuck to it. They did not care how many goals they scored or who scored them, just that they scored enough to win.
One key element in their game plan, in my estimation, was each player taking much shorter shifts then they would have been use to when they played at home. Every player on this team was a star on their regular teams and with that stardom comes additional playing time. But with this team each player played quite a bit less than what they normally would. Instead of being on the ice for 45 – 60 seconds, or more, shifts during the Olympic tournament were usually around 30 seconds. And everyone did it. Even when they were up 3-0 in the final game with only minutes to play, they were taking the same 30 second shifts – no deviation from the plan.
Any one of those players could have said, “hey, I’m a star, I have a chance to do something special here, let me do more”, but they didn’t – at least not openly. What their actions said was that they bought in to the plan – no special treatment for any one player. And the result was winning an Olympic gold medal. If you want to see an example of the opposite of all of this, take a look at the Russian men’s Olympic hockey team. Plenty of individual, top end talent, but struggled to work well together; and it showed.
Team work is difficult, no question about it. But it can be well worth the effort when everyone is on the same page, moving in the same direction.
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The Other Side of the Story
Beyond the ‘we have to’ element however, I believe there are many good reasons to actually want to work in teams. For starters, I believe in synergy. I believe that more often than not a group of individuals working well together can accomplish a great deal more than individuals working separately – no matter how talented those individuals may be.
There are many examples of this, but the one I would like to highlight comes from the Winter Olympics that were held this past February. Even if you are not a sports fan, the Olympics probably drew you in at some point and for Canadians hockey is one of the biggest attention getters. This past year saw us win – for a second straight time – gold in both men’s and women’s hockey. The story of the women’s victory I will save for another time. For now, I think the men’s team illustrates well what I am trying to get at.
For those of us who follow hockey we will say that we have the most talented players in the world and that every time Canada ices its best players we expect to win. But obviously this is not the case; other countries also have many talented players, and we have not always won. We have learned the hard way that just putting talent together on the ice does not guarantee you success; it is how that talent works together.
What was impressive to me about the men’s gold medal win this past February was the overall consistency with which they approached each game. They did not seem to care what the press or fans had to say; they knew what they had to do to be successful and they stuck to it. They did not care how many goals they scored or who scored them, just that they scored enough to win.
One key element in their game plan, in my estimation, was each player taking much shorter shifts then they would have been use to when they played at home. Every player on this team was a star on their regular teams and with that stardom comes additional playing time. But with this team each player played quite a bit less than what they normally would. Instead of being on the ice for 45 – 60 seconds, or more, shifts during the Olympic tournament were usually around 30 seconds. And everyone did it. Even when they were up 3-0 in the final game with only minutes to play, they were taking the same 30 second shifts – no deviation from the plan.
Any one of those players could have said, “hey, I’m a star, I have a chance to do something special here, let me do more”, but they didn’t – at least not openly. What their actions said was that they bought in to the plan – no special treatment for any one player. And the result was winning an Olympic gold medal. If you want to see an example of the opposite of all of this, take a look at the Russian men’s Olympic hockey team. Plenty of individual, top end talent, but struggled to work well together; and it showed.
Team work is difficult, no question about it. But it can be well worth the effort when everyone is on the same page, moving in the same direction.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 20th, 2014 at 10:01 am and is filed under Comments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.