How to make your team R.O.C.K.
To learn about
teamwork, management gurus tend to study collaboration in companies. Most don’t
consider rock ‘n’ roll groups as an appropriate venue for studying teams. After
all, what is a life in rock ‘n’ roll if not a quest to escape the 9 to 5?
As the CEO of Rock ‘n’
Roll Fantasy Camp (David) and part-time musician and Senior Partner at McKinsey
& Company (Scott), we’ve observed that the best bands - the ones that last
- achieve levels of teamwork and collaboration that business leaders would
envy.
This makes sense. You
must learn to work together if you’re going to spend life together on the road
(imagine taking your team on a nine-month offsite!) and regularly “innovate” a
new product every year or so for fickle customers with endless choice. Success
at the end of the day, as Judas Priest’s lead singer Rob Halford put it, is
“all about working together.”
We asked rockers who
work with Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp’s “Team Rock” corporate team-building program
what they consider the most important lessons corporate leaders can learn from
their experience. Here are their insights (shared in a framework intended to be
as memorable as the chorus of your favorite rock anthem!):
R: Role clarity:
Heart’s Nancy Wilson,
who has sold over 35 million albums in her career, explains: “Staying relevant
in music is like in marriage, you have to renew your vows every few years.
Everyone has to understand and commit to what their role is, and they have to
do it well. I play guitar, and I’m expected to play guitar well; it’s not a
prop! At the same time, you can’t expect others to do things they can’t do.
Great bands figure out each other’s relative strengths and weaknesses and
members play their roles accordingly.”
O: Objective
setting:
Paul Stanley from Kiss,
among the highest selling rock ‘n’ roll acts of all time, shares: “Success
doesn’t happen by chance. Without big goals, you’ll never make it big. At the
same time, breaking the journey down into smaller, manageable goals on the way
to the big picture makes those larger goals feel achievable. Those small
victories start to accumulate, build momentum, and, in time, what may have felt
impossible at the start becomes reality.”
C: Communication:
Roger Daltrey of The
Who, one of the 20th century’s most influential rock bands,
reflects: “Communication is fundamental to the success of a band - it’s the
lifeblood. When things start to go off the rails, it’s not going to come back
without good communications. And if the band doesn’t communicate well with each
other, they’ll never be able to connect with their audience. Keep it simple and
straightforward, be respectful but honest with each other. Then you’re building
on a strong foundation.”
K: Killer attitude:
(Yes, by “killer” we
mean “excellent” - that’s rock ‘n’ roll!) Singer and guitarist Sammy Hagar,
with 25 platinum album certifications, describes: “The biggest thing that gets
in the way of teamwork in a band is ego. When someone, or everyone, thinks
their ‘thing’ is the most important thing, it all falls apart. The great
professionals and greatest bandmates are confident in their abilities and
humble enough to work to build others up, and themselves be open to learning.
When this happens, there is mutual respect. When mutual respect is there, magic
can happen.”
The last word goes to
Ed Oates, Oracle’s co-founder and a guitarist, who sums it up well: “In a band
you’ve got different people with different attitudes and skills coming together
to achieve a common goal. When it works, the outcome is greater than the sum of
the parts. It’s far more than just five individual stars. It’s the same in
business - it’s that kind of teamwork that’s behind sustainable success.”
As it comes to
teamwork, then let us say - and say it loud, “Let there be R.O.C.K.”
by David Fishof
and Scott Keller
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/the-organization-blog/how-to-make-your-team-rock?cid=other-eml-alt-mip-mck-oth-1806&hlkid=8d660096125a4b51a7033696aa19105d&hctky=1627601&hdpid=fd9da6af-e68d-4c24-8fd2-c9936e31c6df
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