Weekly Nugget: Smaller Can Be Mightier

Click here to listen to this newsletter.

At a recent quarterly meeting in Dallas, Texas, for EOS implementers?, there was a very good story told by Mark O'Donnell, EOS Visionary?.? This illustrated to us how a team, once you've got the right people on the team, is actually more effective, sometimes, when it's a smaller team, rather than a bigger team with people that are not as effective. He used the example of going whitewater river rafting with a group of friends and family. They started off with a group, a bigger group, and they had a very challenging task to do. But for some reason, they just couldn't get their rhythm right.

As a group, they didn't respond well to the coach or the trainer's instructions. They just couldn't get this raft to get to a specific point in a very difficult place to get, because they just could not get their rhythm and they were not all in sync.

So, they made a difficult decision to kick two of the members off the team. The team was now smaller, I think they were eight and they became six, and they saw an immediate difference. Because the six who were there, were the right people in the right seats; they rowed together all the time, they were strong together, and the raft responded so much better. They were a much better team, much more effective, and they could reach this goal of what they set themselves as a whitewater river rafting team.?

This illustrated again to me: if you have the right team, fewer people are sometimes more effective than a bigger team.? I've seen it with several of my clients. In the beginning they want to include everyone, they want to include everyone on the senior leadership team, because we're doing the training and they're excited about it. But then, once we work through the first three sessions and we go into the quarterlies, we start seeing that certain people on the team are not really pulling their weight.

They don’t really see the future, they’re not as engaged as the rest of the team, they’re not in sync with the rest of the team - and this is when we have to have the difficult conversations, and be brave and say, okay, how can we make this team as effective as possible?

My question for you is: On your leadership team, is everyone engaged 100%, see the future, are they all rowing with you? Or are there a couple of people that, once they're not on the team, the team will be so much stronger together, and the results will be so much stronger??

So there you have it. Sometimes fewer people, really focused, are much stronger than a bigger team.?

Have a great week. ?

Best wishes,

Nico