Did you watch the Olympiad rowing races? We were just talking with a client whose son was at one time an Olympic rowing hopeful.
When he competed at the national level, he had to earn his spot on the team not by how well he performed, but by how well the crew performed when he was a part of it.
Olympic rowing crews have eight athletes who’re nearly identical. Raw skill, talent, physical strength – there’s not much difference among them.
The competitions are 1.24 miles. The margin by which those races are won or lost?
2 inches.
What do you suppose allows the winning boat to pull ahead?
Rhythm. Chemistry. Teamwork.
Technical skill? Tenacity? Strength? Not enough. Olympic rowers make the cut by tuning in to how their individual efforts contribute to – or get in the way of – the team’s objective. By being empathetic.
By caring more about the boat than themselves.
Does this sound like your team? Or is your team not that in sync – yet?
Your team can develop this level – a world class level – of teamwork. Working with other people fluidly, collaboratively, trustingly is a skill. An acquirable skill. A skill you can lead the people in your team to acquire – through working this week’s Trust Tip:
Build Trust of Capability: Help People Learn Skills
Helping people learn new skills is a behavior that builds Trust of Capability. You can use this Tip to support people to develop a range of new skills. In my experience, the skill people need the most support to master is building and sustaining high trust, highly collaborative relationships that produce results.
This Tip will help you take a step to master that skill…and help others take a step to master it, as well.
If you’re already signed up for Reina’s newsletter, this Tip will be delivered straight to your inbox. If you haven’t signed up yet, please do.
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Yours in trust,
Dennis Reina, PhD