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Beyond business as usual

Superteams, by KHOI TU

THE subtitle of this book is The Secrets of Stellar Performance from Seven Legendary Teams. 

The legendary teams covered in the book are Pixar, the European Ryder Cup Team, SAS, the Red Cross, the Rolling Stones, the Northern Ireland Peace team, and Ferrari F1.

Covering teams from movie making to Formula 1, from Special Forces to a rock band, from golfing to disaster assistance and politics, the book is as entertaining as it is engaging.

Author Khoi Tu has taken a period in the history of each of these ‘organisations’ and highlighted lessons that most teams in business contexts would do well to learn.

While the image of James Bond single-handedly saving the world is entertaining, it is only fantasy. Today, all work involves a team. The team can be a formally constituted group drawing a salary from a single source, or a loose association that contributes some time, some expertise or some goods or services.

The value of the book lies in the messages that emerge from each chapter: teams that perform well can achieve spectacular results and performing well is within the ability of almost every team.

Pixar, a company owned by Steve Jobs after being fired from Apple, manufactured computers with exceptional graphic capacity. In that it succeeded, but there was simply no demand for the product.

Under the leadership of John Lasseter, they moved into movie making and their first project was Toy Story.

Pixar’s partners in movie making, Disney, concluded that Toy Story was awful and the project, together with Pixar, should be closed down. Lasseter managed to secure a two-week stay of execution to see if they could fix the movie.

In these two weeks, Pixar’s staff had to produce something superb or they would all be out of work.

Fuelled by the fear of failing, they operated optimally and successfully. When the crisis was over and the movie saved, they realised they had a winning formula. That formula still drives  this remarkable movie company.

Yes, the team was extraordinarily talented, but that would not have been enough. They had to make the whole greater than the sum of the parts through a balance of ‘I’ and ‘we’. They needed ‘we’ to matter more than ‘I’ so everyone would be pulling in the same direction for the common good.

They needed to know when ‘I’ matters more than ‘we’ so that decisions could be made and work proceeds. The movie had only two weeks to prove itself.

I have observed many teams working exceptionally well during a crisis when the danger was real, and time was running out. When it was over, they went back to business as usual.

Pixar emerged successful from their crisis but never returned to business as usual. Instead, they took what make for success and built it into their standard operating procedures.

They still hold “Dailies”, a daily meeting to review progress attended by all members of the team. During the crisis, they did not have the luxury of a monthly meeting to evaluate progress and only then find it wanting. Their commitment to not wasting a single day’s effort continues.

Pixar still has the “Brain Trust”, a meeting called by the producer/director team when they have run into a problem.

The Brain Trust is a gathering of the best of the best in the company that forms for a ‘no-holds-barred’ discussion of the problem. The director and producer have the right to ignore suggestions and comments and so are freed from any need to be defensive.

Proof that the process is still working is that at Jobs’ death, more of his wealth came from Pixar (via Disney) than from Apple.

The lessons from SAS, the British Special Forces unit, focuses on the daring raid on the Iranian embassy in London in 1980, in which 26 hostages were being held by a terrorist group.

SAS was formed during the Second World War to be a new Commando brigade for guerrilla warfare - a force, as Churchill put it, like a “pack of hounds” and a “band of brothers”.

SAS only accepts first class candidates from existing members of the armed forces. Candidates are then subjected to a series of brutal tests acknowledged as the toughest of any military unit in the world. Sheer brawn is not enough; unshakeable resolve, inner determination and self-belief are more important.

Only about 1 in 10 of those who make it to the third and final stage of the tests is selected. The few have the mental toughness not to break. Being selected gives the individual the knowledge of what they are capable of and gives their brothers-in-arms the guarantee of their qualities.

The SAS raid on the Iranian Embassy lasted just 15 minutes. The planning and preparation had been meticulous. It was daring, with improvisation under fire and individual acts of bravery. The teamwork was seamless. The hostages were freed, five of the six gunmen were dead and the survivor was captured.

SAS teams are small, and they drill and rehearse obsessively. Nothing that can be done to ensure success is omitted. An SAS mantra is “God is in the detail”. They know the quality of the men in the team, the extraordinary internal strength they possess and their finely-honed skills.

It is not hard to understand why a team like this is so successful and how much any team can learn from them. Select the best of the best for the team. Keep teams small and intimate so working bonds can be strong.

Plan everything meticulously. Rehearse. Then, when the moment comes, and the “Go! Go! Go!” call is heard, uncommon success will be the result.     

I found this book highly motivating because nothing that the seven teams in the study do is beyond the ability of my company or any of the companies to which I consult.

It is unlikely that the insights are not relevant or beyond the ability of your team or your company.

Readability:  Light --+-- Serious
Insights:      High -+--- Low
Practical:      High +---- Low

*Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on leadership and strategy

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