Teams don’t move to the beat of just one drum
“What might be right for you, may not be right for some…it takes Diff’rent Strokes to rule the world!” Photo from Closerweekly.com
Replicating what has led to success for others is very appealing - and the basis of many a marketing campaign. A simple trap to fall into is finding out what works in one team and trying to replicate it within our own. Unless the similarities are overwhelming this sort of an approach is likely to fail. What is more useful is working to understand the principles behind a team’s way of working in their environment and exploring how those principles may be applied in our teams.
On large scales, we have seen this play out. Cane toads were voluntarily introduced into the Australian environment. Given the ecologically disastrous impact that these animals have had across the continent, it may be hard to believe that they were brought in by choice. Of course, it wasn’t the intended outcome. What was intended was that the toads would eat the cane beetles that were damaging sugar crops. That made some sense as toads do eat beetles. Turns out these toads don’t eat those beetles and became a much bigger problem than the original beetles.
The point of this is to resist the urge of simply cutting and pasting solutions from other teams or other organisations expecting them to work. Something similar might work. Just as likely is that there will be hidden and unexpected consequences of applying the same approach in a different setting. Or, as we learned from Arnold and Willis, “what might be right for you, may not be right for some…it takes Diff’rent Strokes to rule the world”!
Some questions for you to consider in your teams:
What are the key drivers for success in your teams' context?
Can you apply principles from other similar experiences?
Can you identify the differences from other team experiences?