Tool Box Talk: Teamwork, We Have Met the Enemy and He is Us

We Have Met the Enemy and He is Us

On a day in 1970, a well-known comic strip called Pogo had environmental protection as its subject for the day.

Upon seeing the environment littered with trash, the character Pogo stated, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

This statement yields a universal truth quoted by strategy practitioners in many fields that certainly applies to safety strategy as well.

The greatest source of friction that prevents most organizations from achieving their goals tends to come from within and not from the outside.

Unfocused or off target effort, misallocated resources, artificial constraints, and the taking of unnecessary risks are all problems generated by suboptimal safety strategy and management generated from within.

When we plan safety strategy and consider what could go wrong with our plans, it is very important to take a look in the organizational mirror and recognize that we (our behaviour) may very well be our greatest opponent.

If it is not our own organization, it may be individuals within the organization whose personal interests fall out of alignment with the organization.

Interests that fall out of alignment tend to oppose and add friction to an effort, oppose being very similar in meaning to compete.

A team approach is always necessary but we must understand how a team operates.

A Team has three Basic Elements at All Times:

Structure

How the team is organized in terms of formal/informal authority and leadership; timing, location, and physical environment in which the team operates.

Task

Why the team exists; its work, purpose, and output.

Process

How the team works within the structure to accomplish its tasks.

In group process, team members have three basic needs, and everything they do during team interactions can be linked to one of these needs:

The need to achieve tasks,

The need to maintain group cohesion and well-being, AND

The need to express and satisfy individual interests or desires.

Sometimes a team is focused too heavily on achieving the task and may forget to pay attention to relationships among members/volunteers. When this happens, tensions may arise and simple problems may become “heavy.”

At other times team members may emphasize maintaining relationships so much that they don’t have time to complete their tasks, and they may find the quality of their work slipping. As a result their motivation may decline, and they may begin to blame one another.

When a team has not developed properly and members/ volunteers feel their needs are not being met, they sometimes engage in self-centred  behaviour to try to draw attention to, or divert attention from, themselves.

Teams that succeed have a shared sense of purpose and clear goals.

Although trust is crucial to team collaboration, it is often slow to develop and easy to lose. Trust requires the effort of all the team members/volunteers and the leader.

To be trusted, you must be willing to trust others.

Confusion over roles and expectations is a frequent cause of frustration and tension in team settings.

Unclear roles can quickly lead to other problems such as distrust and hidden agendas. When people have false assumptions about who is doing what, important tasks can be left unattended.

Effective communication is much more than being able to “make conversation.” It means ensuring that important information is constantly being shared and understood by everyone on the team.

It also means that members/volunteers must be candid about their own wishes, needs, and concerns.

Diversity—a mix of backgrounds in terms of race, gender, culture, age, education, physical ability, and job function—can lead to a rich and rewarding team experience.

People don’t need to be the same or think the same to be unified.

The key to success is to value team diversity and use that diversity to achieve the team’s common purpose.

In summary, creating a collaborative team environment requires considerable time and attention, especially early in the life of the group. But the payoff is remarkable!

And a bonus quote from Albert Einstein:

“Weakness in attitude is weakness in altitude.”

Thanks for the share, TO!