Thriving Teams: Right People, Right Roles, Right Action

What do the England football team, the new UK Government and the Tour de France have in common?

Well, they're all currently demonstrating the importance (and interplay between) talented people, systems, culture and vision.

Let me explain what might seem tenuous.

In all three cases, July has brought the culmination of years of planning, preparation, strategy and training. In all three cases, there is a moment of truth where a definitive, externally determined success or failure arrives. You become European Champion, or you don't. You win an election, or you don't. You win the stage, or the jersey, or you don't.

Let's start with the England football team. Going into the European Championships, most people would agree that on paper we have the best squad (in terms of individual talent) in recent memory. Full of players performing at the highest level on a weekly basis all year. Yet, for the past few weeks (years?) the overall feeling has been one of untapped potential, frustration and, frankly, boredom.

This feels like a combination of things: square pegs in round holes, tactics that don't suit the resources available and an unclear overall shared identity.

Of course, there are only 4 teams left in the competition (at the time of writing), so something is working, right? Absolutely - but sometimes we hit the target but miss the point.

In teams you've been part of, perhaps at work, have you ever been hitting every KPI, getting good feedback, maybe even feeling like you could do your job standing on your head - but not feeling like you're truly winning?

I often see this in my coaching and I think it stems from asking the wrong questions - or failing to ever ask any deeper questions at all.

Which is where I'll tentatively venture into the politics example. With the obvious caveat that it's early days, actions speak louder than words, fine words butter no parsnips (and other assorted cliches), there seems to have been a shift in the headline question being asked.

In the past 14 years, the drivers for UK Government seem to have been: what can we get away with; what messaging can we manipulate opinion with; what's in it for me; what's the maximum I'm entitled to.

The well-publicised appointment of James Timpson as Prisons Minister seems to signal a different approach - based more around central questions such as: what does the country need; who has the skills and experience to make change happen; what could we be doing differently.

It's interesting that giving roles to people who are experts in their area and want public service to be about serving the public raises eyebrows and is described as "ground-breaking".

Perhaps that shows how far we've collectively strayed from the original concepts behind the teams, systems and cultures we're part of.

"I'm lucky I found racing because I love bikes and I'm fortunate now to have the opportunity to appreciate every pedal rev I do."

So said Mark Cavendish in his Netflix documentary last year. He's just become, definitively, the greatest stage winner in Tour de France history - an achievement that is beyond my comprehension, never mind my words.

Yes, he's put in endless hours of training; there is a whole ecosystem of tactics and scientific endeavour behind his wins - but fundamentally you get the impression he just wants to ride his bike as fast as he can. The winning is an outcome of something simpler and more sustainable.

A Tour de France team also underlines the idea of skill and role matching in a pretty brutal way: it's possible to be an exceptional cyclist in your own right, but spend your whole professional career as a domestique, sacrificing yourself for someone else. A team might have climbers, sprinters, rouleurs, Olympic track medallists, Cyclocross champions - it doesn't matter when the race begins because everyone has a role in the system and the system has a purpose.

So what does any of this mean for your team or your business?

Simply, get it right and you'll perform far beyond the sum of your parts and transcend "targets". Get it wrong and the best you can hope for is a short-term "achievement" that may not be the one you intended.

Fundamental considerations:

• What is the purpose of your team? Does everyone know it and agree on it?
• What are the skills you have to draw from?
• Who are the people you have access to? Who are they really?
• Is the environment (physical, cultural, emotional) you operate in helping or hindering?
• How willing are you to hear about what's not working, as well as what is?
• What's one action you could take towards a more cohesive team?

None of this happens overnight. It takes trust, vulnerability, courageous leadership and humility. People might decide to move on - that's OK too, the more people moving towards their own fulfilment and flow, the better for everyone.