How all of us win
Photo by Climate KIC on Unsplash
A phrase that I like to use with teams I’m working with is this…
“All of us win when all of us bring all of us”
It reminds me that on real teams, our results are owned and earned together. They require each member to bring their best effort and their whole self. When we have members holding back for any reason (and there are many valid reasons that people hold back), then we miss out on the opportunity of experiencing the full benefits of teaming - for ourselves and those that rely on the work that the team does.
It requires each team member to bring their whole self to work. To bring their best ideas, skills and expose some of their frailties.
Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey of Harvard University have written a book called “An Everyone Culture”. In there, they describe people as having two jobs - the one that they are paid for and the other one is about covering up all of the things that they are insecure about. Their suggestion is that this “second job” is the biggest waste of time and energy in most organisations. It’s hard to argue. In your own teams, how much better would performance be if people were willing to admit that they were struggling early (rather than at the last minute) or to say that they didn’t know the answer (instead of making something up to save face in front of colleagues or the boss)? Most teams would be better off.
To quit their second job, team members need to feel psychological safety.
This is not all that new an idea. A paper in 1993 by Professor Edgar Schein of MIT argued that psychological safety helps team members be less defensive of their own ideas and viewpoints. That allows better performance and learning - especially when they are faced with scenarios that contradict their expectations or hopes. Psychological safety, allows individuals to shift their attention towards collective goals and away from self-protection.
This is exactly what real teams need to perform, learn, and develop at the rate the world is demanding of them.
It's another example of how the principles of teamwork - of being in real teams - can be applied to benefit all of us.
Some questions for you to consider at your team level - and beyond:
1. Can everyone in your teams bring all of themselves or do they feel the need to hold back?
2. Could you redefine a path to success in your teams as "all of us bringing all of us"?
3. How could we help steer each other towards collective goals and away from self-protection?