How to build teams that win together: The analogy of the ship builder.

To understand how to build teams that win together, let us consider how one builds a ship.

A ship builder that is worth their salt ensures that all the components of the ship are strong, durable, well-maintained and fitted in the best position to serve their purpose.

The ship builder does not disregard some components of the ship over others based on where they were sourced, how recently they were added to the ship, their size or even position.

If the tiny bolt in the deep-dark throws of the ship’s engine begins to rust or loosen, the ship builder gives it similar (not necessarily the same) care and attention as the wide plank on the deck where his/her valued customers will one day catch the rays of the shimmering sun!

Neither the bolt nor the plank nor some other individual component is wholly credited for holding the ship together, for none of the parts of the ship are the entire ship, and there may be no ship without one of the parts.

A wise ship builder never says to his/her valued customers, “Here - my wonderful ship that I built for you to buy - made with the greatest planks a ship builder can find and a few rubbish bolts!” The customers are unlikely to think of a ship with even one rubbish bolt as being great despite the number of great planks it may have.

If the ship makes it to sea, it risks being condemned to wreck by the “few rubbish bolts” that the ship builder neglected. The “greatest planks a ship builder can find” may not save the ship from sinking.

So, what key takeaways can leaders and managers glean from the analogy of the ship builder to inform their strategies to build teams that win together?

1. Recruit past your familiarity zone/ biases.

It is widely accepted that even well-meaning recruiters are prone to being prejudiced in favour of candidates that fit a familiar mould and against those that appear ‘alien’. The term widely used to describe this tendency is unconscious bias – itself problematic in that it implies that bias happens by some act of nature.

Whereas bias has a social, historical, political, economic, cultural etc. context. Bias does not just happen to happen - in the same way that we just happen to breathe. Therefore, it may be helpful to think of ‘unconscious bias’ as being socialised unintended bias.

How then do leaders and managers recruit past their familiarity zones or socialised unintended biases?

Firstly: Acknowledge that your decisions are likely to be influenced by your perceptions, beliefs, socialisation, etc. None of us are immune to this - therefore socialised unintended bias should not be viewed as a ‘them versus us’ issue.

Secondly: Do not be so hard on yourself that you become defensive and fail to consider the impact of your socialised unintended biases. Acknowledging your biases does not make you a ‘bad person’. 

Thirdly: Openly state what socialised unintended biases may exist within your team. This is no act of naming and shaming - rather it is taking stock of constraints/barriers that may limit your potential to recruit the best candidate/s for the job. The key is to highlight demonstrated or potential biases/misconceptions without apportioning blame.

Fourth: Consider practical solutions to remove or limit constraints/barriers which relate to identified biases. One way to do this is to have a recruitment panel with a diverse and representative membership.

Fifth: Reflect after the act; discussing what worked well and what did not work so well can help teams, in the long term, to increase their awareness of and willingness and ability to address previously held prejudices when they get to know new team members for who they (actually) are.

Openly talking about (individual and collective) biases in this way can lead to a cultural shift as established team members become more conscious about the need to prioritise skills and abilities of new team members over stereotypical characteristics. Such change may not always be immediate, but it must always be intentional.

2. Look after your team.

Team productivity is often viewed as being primarily, if not wholly, about delivering results for customers/clients that are outside of the organisation - overlooking delivering results for the team.

This is like installing expensive furniture on a ship without ensuring that the cogs of the engine are firing well. The journey may be comfortable for a while, but the ship is likely to run into trouble along the way.  

This outward-oriented view of team productivity can result in leaders and managers missing cues given off by team members to indicate that they do not feel as valued as they should be.

The key is to view delivering a healthy work environment for your team as being mutually reinforcing with delivering healthy numbers for your customers/clients. Part of delivering a healthy working environment is enabling individuals to express and achieve their personal and professional ambitions while serving organisational needs.

3. Spread the love.

Just as the wise ship builder would not wait for his/her ship to disintegrate to begin maintenance work, an effective leader or manager should have a system in place to empower, enable and even motivate his/her team to be the best they can be.

Leaders and managers need to be aware of individual and collective needs of their teams. For example, the need to have an opportunity to shine! This can be facilitated through;

• Giving less experienced team members the opportunity to handle ‘big ticket’ tasks or deals; it is not good enough for leaders and managers to only entrust the same individuals with important tasks or deals on the basis that they delivered in the past and others are less experienced. People gain experience through being given the opportunity to fail and to learn from their failure.
• Sharing the spoils of wins and the ‘glory’ of achievements with the entire team; individual excellence should be acknowledged and even encouraged, but not at the peril of the team spirit.

4. Take risks together.

A ship is not built to stay on dry land – it must eventually hit the waters - where it may be exposed to risks at sea - to reach its destination. A ship that has all its components operating at their optimum is more likely to reach its destination than one that is compromised by faulty components.

Similarly, a team that takes risks together positions itself to achieve organisational aims and objectives while mitigating adverse consequences through;

• Leveraging diverse insights and experiences of individual team members.
• Being a sounding board for ideas and providing checks and balances.
• Reducing the fear factor that may limit individuals’ potential to take meaningful and necessary risks for organisational growth.
• Sharing responsibility for successes and failures.

Final thoughts.

The adage that there is no “I” in TEAM sums up the central message of this article; team building is no act of kumbaya - it is a pragmatic undertaking that can enhance the attainment of organisational aims and objectives through enabling individual and collective growth.

The idea that investing in teams is a liability for business is not borne out by the reality of businesses being adversely impacted or even forced to close shop for neglecting the welfare of their employees.

Customers/clients are increasingly demanding higher levels of accountability from businesses and demonstrating an ability to mobilise their collective power to punish incompetence and negligence.  

However, team building should not be viewed as being an inconvenience that organisations and businesses must bear to survive, rather it should be regarded as being an integral part of running any self-respecting organisation or business to strengthen and sustain productivity.