Things get rough. Few need reminding of this during the time of COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.
A condition of life, and of business, is that we live in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (V.U.C.A.) reality. Another condition of life is that adversity breeds resilience. At least, for those who stick together.
We are all inspired by such dynamics when we see it in the gritty (see my blog on “Grit” for more) effort of an athletic team. Our world is reinvented every time we are energized by the exploits of a person, who through sheer talent, will, or effort, revolutionizes a field of science, exploration, human rights, or art. We love stories of breakthrough performance, especially when the breakthrough is hard-won.
I think it is in our DNA. The story of humanity is the story of cooperative action and overcoming great odds and adversity. The unexpected or last minute victory, the unlikely hero, the Cinderella story–our history and our legends are laced with unlikely heroes and unlikely comebacks.
We are riveted by anecdotes of inventors and entrepreneurs toiling away with the midnight oil, sloughing off the naysayers, sweating through failure after failure and setbacks until – Eureka! Tada! YASS! Worst-to-first is the best kind of plot.
So, too, in business. Microsoft, Apple, the Chrysler turnaround, and, yes, my favorite, The Coca-Cola Company, in large part survived and thrived due to the intense commitment of leaders and also their resilient teams. I propose to you that the future of organizations depends on our ability to continue to foster committed leadership and such resilient teams.
In the world of developing and operating products and services, “agile” has been a thing for approaching twenty years. One of the thought leaders in the software space, Alistair Cockburn, authored a milestone book in 2007, “Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game,” and made it clear that developing and applying technology was a human-centered process.
His and others’ work in this space established once and for all the truism that product development is above all else a human endeavor and that the best work is the work of healthy teams.
My suggestion to all people leaders is to focus on building healthy and resilient teams. They win in the good times and, perhaps more importantly, in the tough times.
A Short List of People Management Recipes
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- Want to increase your positive outcomes? Build healthy and resilient teams.
- Want to increase overall productivity? Build healthy and resilient teams.
- Want to improve morale? Build healthy and resilient teams.
- Want to improve economic outcomes for the corporation over time? Build healthy and resilient teams.
- Want to establish the growth mindset and a growth culture? Build healthy and resilient teams.
- Want to increase success in recruiting and retaining talent? Build healthy and resilient teams.
- Want to become an adaptive, networked organization? Build healthy and resilient teams.
- Want to raise the level of creativity and innovation in solving problems? … Build healthy and resilient teams.
I could go on. I think you get the message.
#teamissupreme #agileteam #resilient
