Teamwork

“Getting the team right is the necessary precursor to getting the ideas right.” - Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace, Creativity, Inc

What does it mean to get the team right? What are the building blocks for working with people? 

Over the last few years, I have written several articles to explore these questions, realizing that to build stronger teams, it’s essential to consider these themes:

Ethics: How do you treat people ethically?
“Worker Cogs” considers how treating people with respect, thoughtfulness, and a baseline of ethics can build the foundation for your team. 

System: What is the system that your team can work in?
“Building an ecosystem, not a process” considers how one sports team uses an ecosystem built by and for the team.

Communication: How does your team communicate?
Once you work as a team, communication is essential. “Contribute more than you comment” covers the spectrum of ways to communicate and treat people's time and efforts with respect. 

Connection: How do you find the right people to work with? 
Finally, “The best team in the world” shows the power of expanding your viewpoint and finding the people who can tackle more challenging work, the work that makes you grow. 

I‘ll leave you with this great quote from Terry Orlick’s book Cooperative Games: “The important thing is for everyone to participate, to develop their skills, and to help each other get better at whatever they are doing.”