MODERN TECHNOLOGY
reinventing teamwork in their wake,
but rather scaling it as a capability
and culture.
The typical company circa 2015 has
people dispersed across multiple
locations and issues arising at
the speed of light, which is why
teamwork makes the business
more than the sum of its parts.
Great teamwork scaled across the
business, makes anything possible.
This is why a national 2014
employment survey in the USA, as
reported by Forbes, found that THE
skill that employers looked for in
their new recruits is the ability to
work in a team structure. The nextmost-important skill is ability to
communicate verbally with people
inside and outside an organization.
3. Accelerate and share the
learning
Business has always been a team
sport and there are many good
reasons for this, however one
now stands alone as pivotal to
organisation survival and success.
Business is consumer driven
(or more specifically, customer
experience driven) which means
that our teams must be agile,
innovative and constantly learning
how to optimise that experience
for a customer who has abounding
choice.
Shared learning is the key because
working alone or in silos of expertise
reduces learning, growth and
creativity. When there is no one
to challenge us we simply don’t
leverage our experience and ideas.
4. Escape the gravity of
hierarchy and structure
Daniel Pink, acclaimed business
thought leader, argues that we are
now in the Conceptual Age, in which
right brain thinking reigns supreme
and there is much evidence for
this. Pink talks of the necessity for
organisational symphony: through
empathy, intuition, play and meaning.
The disruptive companies are
enterprises more than organisations,
unencumbered by the gravity of
organisational hierarchy, process
and division.They play like they’re
in the Age of the Entrepreneur:
those risk ready, nimble, intuitive,
well connected folk who thrive on
change.
5. Harness the power of the
whole team
The leaders of the most successful
disruptive companies share their
vision and move others to see it
too. They’re marvellous story tellers,
connecting with others who in turn
connect with them. They inspire
people to think as one team, to move
as one team and to learn as one
team.
Think of a flock of migrating geese,
which always fly in a V formation.
Geese innately know the secret
to great teamwork. They have a
common destination and work in
perfect unison. When a goose drops
out of the v-formation, it quickly
discovers that it requires a great
deal more effort and energy. Geese
help each other too. When a goose
gets sick or wounded, two geese
drop out of formation and follow
their fellow member down to help
provide protection. They stay with
this member of the flock until he or
she is either able to fly again or dies.
Then they launch out on their own,
creating another formation, or they
catch up with their own flock.
Does it remind you of the peloton in
the great cycling Tours?
Share the truth
The disruptors share the reality.
They are not afraid of the truth. In
fact what they fear most are hidden
agendas, silos and the status quo.
As in professional sport, they make
sure the whole team knows whether
they have won or lost and why. The
focus is always on what is best
for the business, even if getting
to the marrow of this takes some
tough conversations. The leaders
insist that they be challenged. They
embrace feedback and tap into the
power of their people, because a
good idea can come from anywhere.
Make the secret yours
Technology gives us power to
communicate, collaborate and learn
across great divides. Very few of us
do this well. To prosper in today’s
markets takes real teamwork and
we are just beginning to harness
technology to this end.
Graham Winter is the bestselling author of Think One
Team, The revolutionary 90 day
plan that engages employees,
connects silos and transforms
organisations (Wiley $25.95)
www.thinkoneteam.com
January 2016
ModernBusiness
49