Emerge from this crisis stronger thanks to one simple concept

There's no "how-to" when it comes to leading through a crisis. Plenty of companies will have had to lead through their own smaller crises, whether a major PR blunder or a huge financial loss. But it's unlikely that any manager will have ever had to lead their team through a crisis quite like COVID-19.

There is one kind of leadership that, not only, works in a crisis, but will also help you emerge on the other side of this outbreak with a happier, stronger team, and a culture that is rewarding and really makes a difference — and that is Teamship.

Teamship is not theory; it’s something I’ve learned to do over the years from understanding and realising that my teams have got great thoughts and ideas, and I just need to listen — because sometimes the best thoughts and ideas come from the people and not from you as the leader of the team.

For example, if I’m leading a team, I always try to listen to the new people in the team first, because they are coming in with no baggage about how you’ve always done things. The new people in an organisation have got just as much to say as the more senior people.

In the business sense, Teamship means putting others, including employees and clients, before yourself. It also means empowering your team to thrive in your company and contribute to the overall purpose, without seeking any glory for yourself — and creating an environment so good that everyone wants to be a part of it and nobody ever wants to leave.

In order to create a Winning Culture you need an effective leader at the helm but, importantly, the leader needs to create a sense of ‘One Team’ in vision, culture, values, standards and strategy. Teamship is one way of doing this and it is certainly my style of leadership.

So how does Teamship Work. Teamship is a set of winning behaviours, rules or principles created and agreed to by every member of the team or organisation and it is a powerful way to get your teams to write their own set of standards that everyone has to buy into and accept. Without being too dramatic, before I put anything in place with the team I would want them to discuss it first without me in the room.

Let's take something simple like time. I think time says more about an individual or a team of people than most things. How can you trust someone if they can't be on time for you. I didn't want to keep discussing time with the England Rugby team so I got them to discuss what it meant to them. They came back with a concept that they called Lombardi Time - after the famous American football coach Vince Lombardi. Lombardi time was 10 mins early. So if I called a meeting at 9am the players all agreed that they would be there 10 mins early ready to start. Are you going to sign this off as a leader - of course! Speak to any player who played under me now and mention Lombardi time and they will say "10 minutes early, you've obviously been speaking with Clive!"

When I coached the England rugby team, the England Squad Handbook soon became known as the Black Book. It was produced for every member of the playing and management team, collected in the team room on arrival and returned on departure. By the time of the 2003 World Cup, it had expanded to include seven distinct categories, 35 sections, 240 Teamship Rules, and more than 10,000 words of text. It was a living document that embodied our professionalism and loyalty and it served as our guide for every facet of our high-performance operation.

It meant everyone knew the standards, the team enforced them themselves - as they were their rules and not mine - and new players could understand the standards from the start. It also had a very important long-term effect – even if I - the leader - wasn’t around, the combination of being at one with the team and the team having written its own rules meant the culture was re-enforced by the team even when I was not there.

I've never read about Teamship in a book but when Simon Sinek, author of Leaders Eat Last, asked why military leaders put their lives at risk to help others, the response was typically, “Because they would do it for me.” this rang a bell to me. This idea of mutual trust as the central tenet of a strong team is at the heart of his servant leadership concept in Leaders Eat Last which is the closest concept I have read to Teamship. I believe that trust and respect aren’t gained by virtue of title but are earned through the quality of your actions and behaviours over a sustained period of time. In Sinek’s words, “Leaders are responsible for the people who are responsible for the results.”

Put simply I wouldn’t know how to run a team without using Teamship. I have used it with all my sports teams as well as when I ran my own small leasing and finance business, and today I work with large corporations to use Teamship to bring their company values to life. 

In fact, since we have gone into lockdown my kids who had previously all moved out have now returned home and we have created our own ‘Woodward Family Teamship rules’ which I have shared below:

Turn Left – Usually there are four different doors that you can use to get into our home. Since we have gone into lockdown, we have restricted everyone to only come in through one door. This door comes in via the utility. When you come in the door there is a sink on the left. The Teamship rule is you must turn left, take your outdoor shoes off, wipe down anything you have bought in with you including all shopping and finally wash your hands before leaving the utility — this must be done every time you enter the house.

TGIF – When everyone first moved back we tried eating together every evening. But catering for eight people every evening was becoming a mammoth task for whoever had to do it. Our Teamship rule now is that everyone caters for themselves during the week and then on Friday and Saturday we have a team / family dinner together which we take in turns in hosting with a few beers and wine.

Wash and Go – Eight people all catering for themselves means a lot of dishes! To ensure the kitchen is left in the best state for the next person we have a Wash and Go Teamship Rule. Once you have made your meal and eaten it you must wash, dry, put everything away and leave it clean for the next person coming in. Dishwasher will be put on when full, but anybody who starts preparing a meal must empty the dishwasher if it has finished its cycle before you start cooking. 

Costa – I think everyone in our household needs a bit of caffeine to get us through the day. Particularly my daughter and her husband as they have a new baby daughter. There’s nothing more annoying than going to the coffee machine for a quick cuppa and finding it needs refilling with water. This Teamship rule is that every time you pour a cup you must fill the water back to the top for the next person.   

Postman Pat – We have lots of parcels arriving daily - I seem to be bankrolling Amazon! So we have clear rules about what to do with parcels when they arrive. When you hear the doorbell, whoever is in must go out and collect the parcels immediately, there must be no signing for parcels but photos taken by delivery person are allowed as long as social distancing is practiced. Parcels must come in through the “Turn Left” door. They must be wiped down and then whoever has bought them in must deliver them personally to the correct person.

In the wake of COVID-19, your team needs you to look out for their wellbeing. They may also be struggling with recent changes in how they work, pivots in the company strategy or unsure how to connect to their company purpose, given the seriousness of this pandemic. 

The trust and care for team members is more important now than ever. In normal times, creating a healthy culture of trust and respect in your team through Teamship will help you achieve great things together.

*** Free access to resilience content ***

Hive Learning’s Resilience Works programme — a digital toolkit for surviving and thriving in uncertain times — has plenty of resources and content on how managers and leaders can put the needs of their people first so that their team feels safe, appreciated and motivated during this unprecedented time.

The Hive Learning team have made some of the content from their Resilience Works programme available on the People Leaders Network — an online community for organisational leaders to share insights, challenges, and ideas, so we can collaborate on the best approaches to take in scenarios that have very little precedent. If you’d like to have a look, you can sign up here.

If you’re looking for a way to bring your team together on a social platform while helping them stay strong, Hive Learning is offering a fast start package for Resilience Works that can get you up and running in 24 hours. You can find out more about this programme and reach out to the team here.