Teams That Swing

Does your team swing? I’m not referring to the popular playground attraction. I’m talking about the rowing term. Let me explain...

In his book Boys in the Boat, Daniel James Brown tells the story of an unlikely group of young lads from Seattle who shocked the rowing world by winning gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. What made them special wasn’t their talent, strength or experience – other crews had more – but their alignment to a common purpose.

Coach Al Ulbrickson united everyone in that boat on a very personal level to get them rowing out of their skins. They achieved what’s known in rowing as swing – when everyone is in perfect unison and every rower is in perfect sync. When a crew has swing, the boat propels forward at great speed with a relatively low stroke rate.

In business, swing happens when we have alignment between company goals, team goals and people’s goals. However, for many organisations there is a disconnect between where the business going and what each team and person is doing. It’s like everyone rowing in different directions. As the diagram below shows, when A, B, C and D are misaligned, the team spins in circles. Even with good intentions, misaligned goals cause confusion, conflict and toxicity.

Figure 1: Misaligned Goals

On the flipside, when goals are aligned, beautiful synergy is created and the team goes further, faster with less fuss and more fun. Aligned teams are more agile, adaptive and cohesive, creating a thriving culture that people want to be part of.

Figure 2: Aligned Goals

I’m interested in your thoughts – how well are your company or team goals aligned? Does everyone know where your boat is going? Is everyone rowing in the same direction? Does your team swing?

Onwards and upwards!

Mark Windust is an influential Thought Leader in the areas of Sales Strategy, Sales Leadership and Sales Performance. Since launching his consulting practice in 2007, Mark has worked with 1000's of business leaders, salespeople and entrepreneurs’ to help them transform their sales results.