Teamwork. Watching great teams achieve is wonderful. Being part of one — even better. The sweet, salty rush of being part of a supportive, dynamic — and winning — entity. Everyone knows what they need to do — and does it well. Selflessness; each person operating in the moment and for the cause.
I’m sitting in an apartment in Tasmania’s Wrest Point Casino. Overlooking the water my family and I watch the seagulls hover in front of my apartment window. We had dinner downstairs in the bistro, having enjoyed a great meal together.
What made the meal special? We watched amazing teamwork between the front and back of house staff. Did this amazing teamwork give each meal extra pep? I think so.
The open kitchen allowed us to see the busy staff inside. It was clear who the leaders in the kitchen were. Each staff member looked engaged and aware. Plenty of customers kept the team busy, and the whole place was humming.
You could hear the back-of-house leaders shout out orders and give directions. Laugher populated the ongoing flow of orders in the kitchen, and the sense of fun was palpable. I love feeling this sense of fun, even if I’m an outsider. Yet my upsurge in happiness is brief, and both sadness and envy tinge my happiness. I miss working in great teams. It’s not to say I don’t right now — well, I’m on holiday in Tasmania, but I’ll be back at work next week.
So why do I feel happy to watch a great bistro team in action? One of my favourite jobs was in hospitality. Working in a Pizza Hut during my uni days, I loved the pace and buzz of the front-of-house — serving and calming unhappy customers. What teamwork magic did I see in the bistro staff that resurged happy memories of my hospitality experience?
- Clear communication: Effective team members are open and clear with each other. This lack of standing on ceremony is powerful. Clarity and openness foster a sense of trust and understanding. The kitchen hierarchy was clear — as was the booming, jovial voice of the leader. My wife remarked that front-of-house staff received a regular briefing. Back-of-house staff told waitstaff the details of meals to go out to customers. Smooth, calm and focused vibes permeated our bistro team.
- Collaboration: Great teams work together to achieve a common goal. Sometimes, great teams make fun even more fun than fun itself. Like worker bees working for their queen bee, each worker bee contributes to a happy buzz. Dozens of customers populated the bistro for dinner service. Yet my favourite bistro team continued their smooth, calm and focused service.
- Adaptability: The ability to adapt to change is crucial for teams. The Thursday night bistro crew changed members once Friday night rolled around. Interchangeable team members handed customer service shortfalls on the spot.
- Strong leadership: Strong leaders guide and motivate their team. Customers could sense their presence in the kitchen. Direction and support help the team achieve its goals. The chef’s booming voice clarified where team focus should lie. Waitstaff could check up on orders without any drama.
Happiness, sadness and envy intermingled even in my Pizza Hut days. After a busy shift, I would clean up the front of house. Waiting for my uni degree to be over and dreaming of a corporate career. Doing interesting things, using my brain to solve complex business problems. I now have this in spades. But the camaraderie and simpler interactions in my team were there in those early days. I had overlooked or taken these good times for granted. These good times would surface in some project or operational teams. My temporary high-functioning teams let us all surf a different wave — one of ‘1+1+1+1 = 10’.
“Politeness is the poison of collaboration.” — Edwin Land
Do high-performing teams take the mickey out of each other, playfully and respectfully? The bistro staff did laugh at each other’s foibles and made light of kitchen mistakes. Many of the great teams I participated in had much playful teasing. The playful banter of the bistro team belied their rough charm was infectious. Customers could see their balance of focus, yet the bistro team stayed light of foot and didn’t appear too serious.
Leaders keep operations simple and clear. The bistro didn’t offer pretentious or complicated food choices. They delivered on the basics with sublime efficiency instead. While they offered specials, the core offering did not seem to change. Every team member knew their role and got to it with gusto.
Project teams and corporate work environments often miss this simplicity. The nature of their work can be far from simple. For instance, project teams deliver solutions to a complicated organisation. Some project leaders may liken this type of work to a heart or lung transplant given stakeholder worries about shiny new things. There’s a high likelihood that the ‘body’ receiving new a new organ will reject the new one.
Yet keeping things simple and clear spoils everyone’s fun. Office politics can get in the way of teams. What we reward or fail to curtail can create a toxic environment. Teams exhibiting toxic environments surf a wave of ‘1+1+1+1 = 1.4’. The ‘1’ in the ‘1.4’ is often the leader, who carefully manages their impression with higher-ups. The remaining ‘0.4’ stands for the sycophants who play the game to help this leader look good.
I watch the bistro team with equal admiration and envy given my time on many project teams. While I see the team’s magic in action, I’m sure there are politics that I don’t see. Yet when you see a team working well, there’s magic to it.
There’s no death by committee. No power struggles nor an ambiguous hierarchy. My favourite bistro team would not likely have time for gossip or rumours — they’re busy getting things done and then going home. The team either delivers customer orders on time and in full. Professional competency is either there — or it’s not. There’s no room for hiding mistakes or setting others up to fail.
I would love to observe the downtime between peak demand. For instance, food preparation and staff training and briefings. I’m confident that the downtimes between each game night are worth watching. My confidence is there without truly knowing.
Clear communication is a vital ingredient to everyone gelling under pressure. A sense of collegiality and equality replaces favouritism. Higher performers become role models for newer or struggling teammates.
A sense of collegiality and equality promotes another sense — one of safety. How is your relationship with your immediate work team? Does your team appreciate each person’s unique strengths? Does your team aim to find a balance between everyone’s strengths? Is there a positive energy, playful banter and a “get-it-done” spirit in your team? Or does your project team criticise each other’s ideas or build upon them?
This sense of safety within your team has an answer. This answer is from this brief exercise. Pick an idea of a different viewpoint from the ones held by your team. Wait for a team meeting. Your idea or viewpoint has to be only a little different, constructive and topical.
The exercise:Put forward an idea or differing viewpoint to your team. Does your team respond with “Yes…and..” or “Yes, but…”?
A green flag — a sign of a healthy team — is a “Yes…and” response. Your juniority within the team hierarchy shouldn’t make a difference. Ray Dalio is the founder of Bridgewater Associates, a successful investment firm. Ray’s team is large, bright and varied. At team meetings, Dalio expected everyone’s contribution. He crafted his team culture to be an ‘intellectual Navy SEALs’. Everyone, even the most junior members, had an equal say in the firm’s direction and investment decisions. The Navy SEALs part was around the rigour and scrutiny placed on each idea. This rigour meant ideas had to be well-considered based on sharp logic and research. Those who hid behind seniority or lack of intellectual rigour would not stay long in his firm. Yet junior staff with sharp, novel and valuable perspectives were safe to bring ideas to the table.
Speaking of safety, well-functioning teams are built on trust. Some people use terms like ‘psychological safety’.
The idea of psychological safety came about from studying teams of Google employees. One study was called the Aristotle project, where psychological safety was cited as the primary reason for team effectiveness. This safety helped teams perform — over expected variables like individual intelligence, conscientiousness and other performance dimensions.
This term may be different to trust. Yet to me, they are the same. Inter-team issues are dealt with in the open. Leaders manage fair, balanced and respectful conflict and grievance conversations. Team members are as fair, balanced and respectful as their leader. The good of the whole is greater than the individual. Interpersonal wounds from conflict are not allowed to fester. Festering wounds get worse, attracting attention away from team goals and celebrating team wins.
Team members take your ideas or perspective and build on it. Remember, your idea or perspective has to be constructive to benefit the team’s existence. If your team opts for the “Yes, but” approach, all is not lost. While team members might cut down ideas, look at leader behaviours. Does the leader acknowledge your idea or perspective as contributing to the meeting?
Here’s a novel perspective — do good teams lack excessive resources?
Hard work is good for the soul, and it keeps you from feeling sorry for yourself because you don’t have time.
Dave Thomas
My favourite bistro team won’t have a massive budget for training or ‘team building exercises’. They are not likely to have Big 4 consulting firms at their beck and call to fill in conceptual or delivery gaps. Their budget is likely to be operational, not capital. One phone call from the leader won’t rustle up more funds to cover mistakes. Good teams don’t have resources to cater for pretence, feeling sorry for oneself — or radical pivots. Good teams can’t afford to ignore the contributions of staff. Yet, how often does this happen in corporate head offices and multi-year program teams?
Like you, I’ve enjoyed the good and bad of teams. The sweet, salty rush of brilliant teamwork stays with me. My pangs of envy are from years of working in teams of various capabilities and safety. No one has figured out how to engineer this magic on command.
Or have they? If so, please tell me. The combined outcomes and interconnected magic is akin to an individual’s concentration and focus. All are magic that I would love to have in a bottle, ready for consumption at any given time!
I published my book — The Change Manager’s Companion — which is available now. You can also check out my online course on Change Management.