Teamwork beats expectations 6-5 on penalties

I've often said we have the opportunity to learn from virtually every experience that life throws at us, and this weekend, and this season has been case in point.

Context:

• I work for a company, Atlassian who has a mission to "unleash the potential of every team"
• I have colleagues who have PhDs, lived experience, and shed loads of wisdom on teamwork. We live and breath it every day.
• I have a huge passion for understanding elite human performance, and effective teams, and I have the fortune of mixing with genuine experts in their fields with the likes of Andy Walshe (ran the elite team that looked after Felix and the Red Bull Stratos freefall from space) and RC Buford , CEO San Antonio Spurs franchise, as well as lots of neuro scientists and military professionals.

So you know teamwork, right?

No. For every week I'm alive, I think I have the opportunity to learn even more about teamwork. And even when I learn from these experts, it doesn't always make it easier to apply, right? I mean, it's easy to get knowledge obesity, and know a lot about teamwork, yet struggle to deploy any of that wisdom.

This years macro lesson

Last year, my football/soccer team of Mosman over 35's won it all. We won the league in the regular season, sailed through the finals, and sneaked the Grand Final on penalties. We were the dominant team all season. So whilst we deserved victory, it was kinda expected a little bit. Don't get me wrong, it didn't stop us celebrating and milking the glory.

A few of us took stock at the end of the season, double checked our birth certificates and decided to "transfer" (politest word I could find!) to the Over 45's. Made sense! We joined a team that in the last year had just about finished second last, and avoided relegation by the skin of their teeth.

The macro lesson for the season has been around resilience and rotation. When you're in over 45's you need a big squad. Why? You can only start 11 players and have a max of 7 on the bench.

You need a big squad for 2 reasons. 45 year olds disappear for school holidays and weekends away. And 45 year olds break easily and often. Because some are WAYYYYY over 45 and some are just 45.

So there were some games during the season where we could barely field 11 players. But whoever we had available, and whatever position we were required to play in, we turned up, played, and win, lose or draw, we'd share a beer and de-brief after the game. Teamwork.

This years micro lesson

In the final weeks of the regular season, we came up against a formidable team. They were top of the table. They were physically bigger than us and stronger than us. They were intimidating. And they got into our heads throughout the game. We quite fairly lost 7-0. Not ideal.

Having won our semi final, we found out we were meeting the same team in the grand final. Nevermind, we'd had a good season.

But in the days leading up to the final, our Whatsapp group lit up. We could win this. We're a strong team. We're going to play the game OUR way.

This is a group, probably made up of CEO's, insurance brokers, auditors, leaders, real estate agents and bankers, except none of us turn up in the roles. We turn up as team mates, lads, defenders and attackers, and men that probably need 90 mins of running around for their mental health!

So did we have hope? I'm not entirely sure, but what we did have was camaraderie.

Team talk delivered, positions known, every single player played their best game of the season. Heads were high. Our attitude was 10/10. If someone made a mistake, we supported them. We communicated. We played for each other.

The opposition? I think they arrived a little bit nonchalant and they expected an easy win. And who wouldn't, after the 7-0 drubbing from a few weeks ago.

But attitude in teams goes a long way. We were cohesive as a unit. Egos were left at the door, and swapped for mindset.

The final finished 0-0 in a true battle and tightly fought contest, and we won 6-5 on penalties. Handshakes were delivered, inquests started, and beers were cracked open.

Why?

I think there are obvious places we can learn from, but they are probably the same things everyone learns. A group of 20 odd misfits ranging from 45 to 60, who lead these very proffesional lives and then turn into someone completely different for 90 mins a week when they pull a shirt on...that's a place to learn about the highs, lows, and reality, of teamwork.

Where are you getting your lessons from?