Team Synergy, Pulled Off
Team Synergy, Pulled Off
by Brett MacNeil
The recent Wall Street Journal article, “Princeton Stuns No. 2 Arizona in the NCAA Tournament”, gave me pause. I began reflecting on my undergraduate days at the University of Arizona, where I watched Lute Olsen coach the Wildcats into a National Power, my thoughts then faded, as most thoughts do these days, to Scythe & Spade and my TEAM. As I thought back over the past 4 years spent developing the Scythe & Spade 2.0 game plan my thoughts took me back to a class I took at Wharton where the instructor, Martine Haas, lessons struck a particular chord. Her lecture is summarized in a Harvard Business Review article, “The Secrets of Good Team Work”, June 2016, for those with inquiring minds.
Teams play a crucial role in all organizations, not just sports. After the Princeton upset over my Arizona alma matter, Princeton Coach Henderson spoke “not of lucky breaks but of a plan, generations in the making, Pulled off.”
Strategically speaking, TEAMs help enhance performance beyond any individual effort. Increased efficiencies, increased quality and even increased quantity all result from a well executed or “Pulled Off” game plan.
TEAMs in Synergy, improve responsiveness both internally and externally, from insights (Seeing What Others Don’t) and from situational awareness (https://youtu.be/KB_lTKZm1Ts), not unlike the Princeton underdogs.
TEAMs in Synergy, also facilitate greater learning and innovation both individually as well as for the group.
Yet, TEAMs actual performance often falls short many times, even under the most impressive leadership. Why ?
A lack of Synergy… exacerbated by:
#1 A lack of clear, challenging goals that are consequential.
#2 A lack of Trust (read Patrick Lencioni’s book on the 5 dysfunctions of a TEAM)
#3 A lack of Shared Objectives
#4 A lack of Shared Successes
#5 A lack of Clear Roles & Responsibilities
How then can we as leaders or Coaches create the ideal conditions that enable TEAMS to be Synergistic and most effective ?
Synergistic TEAMs exceed expectations, where the members become increasingly effective and competent doing more with less and the member’s personal growth and well-being are fostered as a result of their TEAM Experience. Results then, will follow.
The HBR article mentioned above, breaks the Secrets of Good Team Work down to 4 fundamentals:
#1 Create a Compelling Direction that energizes, orients and engages the TEAM, keeping them inspired. This includes, written and reviewed Mission and Vision statements.
#2 Create a strong Structure, Foundation or Culture. This includes critical yet simple systems and processes optimally designed for repetitive, predictive, reliable results that honor one’s Core Values and norms.
#3 Create a supportive context. From recruiting to hiring, onboarding and growth, reinforce what top performance looks and feels like, and reward and recognize that behavior.
#4 Create a Shared Mindset. Remote employees diversity and distance require us to foster a common identity and understanding. For us, it is the Scythe & Spade Way.
At Scythe & Spade, we like being the underdogs. We have no aspirations of being the biggest, just the best. Small Giants in our industry of choice. We very selectively recruit for the right TEAM Members, starting with humility and of course a TEAM mentality. We focus, and have always focused on building reliable and predictive systems and processes and put our culture and shared mindset first and foremost. While we haven’t been mentioned in the WSJ or HBR, we do feel like we have discovered and are embracing some of the secrets to Great Team Work. The Synergy is more and more obvious to us and hopefully to our valued clients and customers as well. We are “Pulling Off” our Game Plan more and more effectively every day.
Bravo to the S&S underdogs.