What a Different Version of Musical Chairs can Teach us About Team-Work

We hear about team-work and group dynamics all the time. We hear about strategies and exercises to improve team-work and to become a good team-player. But what exactly is the value of being a team-player? Let us take a look at the following little nugget of wisdom.

The famous game of musical chairs comes to mind. The rules are simple- nine chairs are given to ten children. The children have to quickly find a chair and get themselves seated. After every round of running around for the chair, one chair is removed. Eventually, only one child can get the chair- that child is declared the winner.

What does this variation of the game teach that child who wins? ‘Myself, myself and in order to success, I must remove others.’

Yes, it is a variation. Did you know there is another way of looking at the game? The Japanese version of the game has nine kids for ten chairs as well. They run around the chairs too. But what are they told about winning?

The thing in the Japanese version is that they tell the children that if even one of you remains without a chair, everyone loses. Yes, everyone loses! The children thus try their best to let everyone be seated, even if it means two kids sitting on chair and adjusting to the lack of space. What does this set of children learn? ‘I cannot succeed without the help of others.’

Of course, one might argue that the ten children would not be able to accommodate themselves on the chairs after a certain number of chairs have been removed. Perhaps, we can guess that the game ends early. Or one would know when to end the game and start playing something else so that everyone gets to participate. Either way, such questions make us wonder about the concept of teamwork. It makes us wonder what it means to collaborate, and when it is a good time to change strategies!

One more layer here in this idea of the game is a tussle between individualist vs collectivist cultures, which again, makes us realise some crucial team-work lessons.

We do not operate in isolation: We are all individuals with our own strengths and weaknesses. We all need to work on our skills and competence, but we do not work in isolation. At some point, we all need a solid support-system, whether it is our family, friends or colleagues. The last couple of years of COVID waves made us realise how important it is to be there for each other, and how difficult it can be to entirely be on our own. What good is a manager if they don’t have anyone to manage? What good is a conductor if they don’t have an orchestra?

What good is a team that doesn’t respect its own team-members and leaders? A group is composed of all kind of individuals with all kinds and levels of competences, and they all need each other to function well as a group. An orchestra sounds incomplete even if one instrument is missing. As the Ubuntu philosophy makes it clear, ‘I am, because we are.’

Competition can be toxic: Some healthy competition is a good thing. In fact, it is a much-needed source of motivation. Taking a look around us, at what others are doing helps us understand our own potential. The thought that ‘if he can do, then so can I’ is sometimes necessary to push ourselves to strive for better. Competition can inspire us.

But competition can also turn toxic. Office politics, spreading rumours and gossip, deliberately pulling someone down for one’s own gain etc are some ways toxic competition manifests, to name a few. A culture thrives when individuals work in collaboration with each other. Gone are the days of the survival of the fittest- the days are here to help each other become the fittest.

Teamwork is a culture: A great perspective from the little nugget is that team-work is an attitude, a mindset. No number of team-building workshops and seminars could work if the mindset is still all about cut-throat competition. It is crucial that companies encourage a culture that values looking after each other. Whether it is following a ‘buddy system’ where new employees get to have an exclusive ‘buddy’ who helps them get familiarise with how the company works, or whether it is a leader who actively listens to all kinds of feedback-- positive and negative -- and acknowledges and works on issues rather than sweeping them under the carpet, or whether it is a willingness to mentor a new member, looking after each other comes in many ways. Team-work isn’t just limited to assignments and objectives, it is a way of functioning. It is a way of being and relating with each other.

Team-work, collaborative mindset are not just buzzwords-- they are important states of functioning which ensure the individual gets to live their full potential as they contribute to the collective. Ubuntu philosopher Michael Onyebuchi Eze sums it up beautifully: ‘Ubuntu does not ask that we erase differences and become the same. It asks that we interpret others positively, recognizing that whatever our differences, our humanity is equal. It is an invitation to dialogue, to understanding, even without agreement, and with understanding comes compassion, tolerance, nobility, sharing.’ Good teamwork doesn’t just influence the results of the team; there is always something that the individual from the team gets to learn.