As a person leading a team, your goal is for that team to become more effective. But what makes a team effective? Is it everyone working hard? Is it everyone working fast? Is it a vocal leader driving the team to strong results? I prefer to think that an effective team is one that can achieve amazing results with minimum effort. Strong, intelligent, and capable people are a good start, but one of the most important components of an effective team is that everyone knows their role and is efficient at performing it.
Nowhere was that more evident than at a training session where I took my team of 12 people. The training lasted three days, and the ongoing project we were assigned to work on during breaks using the skills we learned would then be judged on the last day. The project consisted of a large canvas bag that held 14 pieces of wood—1x4s ranging in length from 2′ to 4’—and a diagram of how those pieces needed to be laid flat on the ground with certain pieces overlapping others to form a shape resembling a lifeboat.
We were told nothing else other than that for our final exam we would be timed on how quickly we could assemble the lifeboat. I had told my team that I would step back and just observe. The first practice session started with the Type-A people on the team opening up the bag and grabbing the diagram. They began directing people on how to assemble the boat. Inevitably, some of the team hung back and just watched. Once they felt ready, the team timed their first attempt at assembly and came in at 2 minutes and 9 seconds. Not bad. During their break, they practiced a little more. Then, 1:50 became 1:35, which then became 1:20. Now the team was cooking. They knew they had it down, so instead of just wanting to pass the test, someone asked what the record was. They were told 13 seconds.
The team left the break in stunned silence. They knew that they had to drastically rethink how they were doing things. Some of the self-appointed leaders now consulted the people who had not been participating. These observers asked some insightful questions. Were they allowed to pre-stage the wood in the bag? The instructor told them they could do whatever they liked. Timing started when the bag was unzipped at the test. What if they staged people in a certain way? Then the group had the most important revelation of all. What if everyone participated, had just one role to play, and did it in the most efficient way possible?
Now everybody was assigned a board in a sequential order. The boards were stacked in the bag in the exact order they needed to come out. The group no longer needed a “leader” to read the diagram and instruct people where to put the boards. Everyone knew their assignment of where to stand, along with where and when they were to place their board. The leader was now assigned to unzip the bag and put the final board in place.
When it came time for the final exam, the team carefully placed down the bag, everyone stood at their assigned spot and placed their hands right next to the bag in the order that they were to grab their board. When the judge said to start, it was like watching a water ballet of synchronized swimmers. As the bag opened, hands started pulling out boards and gracefully swinging them over the group’s heads onto their correct place on the floor. Before you could inhale another breath, they were done. Their time was 9 seconds.
Being a team as effective as this did not require a leader to be there during the execution of the task. It required leadership from all of the team during the planning of the task. It meant getting everyone involved. Once obstacles had been identified and roles were assigned, each person figured out the most efficient way to perform their assignment. The result was that this efficient and capable team performed the task as effectively as anyone had ever done before.
