In the early 19th century the Prussian military developed an innovation so sophisticated that it gave them and the German Military an advantage that lasted at least 150 years. It’s an innovation that’s just as relevant today and not just to the military because it contains within it many of the secrets for success for organizations coping with disruption, pressure and change.
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A great number of teams are basically shit. Most are average and a few realize their potential and become great. In a shit team most of the fundamentals are wrong. In an average team some of the fundamentals are wrong. In a great team the fundamentals are as solid as iron and guide everything the team does. Great teams result neither from alchemy or luck. In over 20 years of being part of every sort of team, here is quick flash of things I’ve noticed.
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The title may be humorous but the point is to reflect on some questions that might improve leadership. Even if hopefully none of these symptoms applies there is still a challenge to reflect on why there is so much poor leadership around and how we stop these behaviours taking root in those we have a responsibility to develop.
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African Wild dogs hunt in packs and rely for their survival and success on team work and collaboration. They adopt different hunting strategies depending on the prey and typically have a success rate of between 60 & 90 per cent – higher than any similar sized predators. Lions and hyenas typically average a success rate of around 25 per cent. Reflecting on what it takes to be an outstanding team player here are our ten rules:
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A catalyst is a substance that speeds up the rate of a chemical reaction without being changed itself. Good leaders have the same power. Their magic is the power to take others beyond what they thought possible. Limits and limitations that we set ourselves as individuals or in teams are shoved aside in the face of this force of willpower and belief.
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Focus and the art of strategic thought: A common complaint of senior executives is that they don’t have enough time. Particularly they don’t have enough time to focus on thinking strategically. There seems always to be a deluge of things that are important – often defined by others. In parallel there is often a clichéd demand to achieve more with less.
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We don’t ask enough ‘dumb’ questions’. Dumb questions rather than wasting time or being the distraction you might assume are often highly valuable. They’re great and flushing out the assumptions in a situation. Far too often assumptions are implicit and therefore it’s not clear they are assumptions.
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It was cold and the rain continued to fall steadily out of a bruised grey sky as it had done for hours. The river glided by looking sullen. Round the bend upstream I was waiting for a team who were many hours into a leadership project designed to challenge and develop their leadership behaviours. The weather I considered to be in my favour; as I wanted to strip away the team’s veneer of cosy congeniality and look at how they coped under pressure – a part of which involved being fatigued, cold and wet.
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When we think about developing our personal performance we make some calculations. We decide what is reasonable effort; a judgment about the level of effort that will be necessary and the risks associated to failure. Then we compare the effort to the potential gain
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Marginal gains is a voguish mantra for improving performance. Made famous by GB Cycling & Team Sky under David Brailsford it is a philosophy that has its roots in the Japanese manufacturing concept of Kaizen. A hundred things all done 1% better adds up to a lot of change and a lot of additional performance.
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