3 Lessons on Building a Team at 95 mph
Before we won our gold medal, I thought that thing would make me happy for literally the rest of my life.
I remember once telling someone in an interview that I could be homeless and sit on the curb with my future Olympic medal and I’d still be happy. That’s how much it meant to be while I was pursuing it.
Don’t get me wrong, winning that thing was the best experience of my entire life, with the exception of watching my children be born. (this is where I apologize to my wedding re: our wedding day, but I think she knows)
But you know how long that incredible rush of elation lasted for me? Three weeks. What I expected to last me a lifetime lasted… less than a month.
And yet, what I still miss to this day, is the time I spent with my team.
I miss traveling Europe, sitting straight up and down, in a three-seater truck hauling bobsleds, and knowing how to make it from Altenberg, Germany, a little town in old East Germany along the Czech border an hour south of Dresden all the way to LaPlagne, France - with no map or cell phone! Just sitting with the guys going from city to city on the autobahns.
I miss going for sushi in Innsbruck and betting a teammate he couldn’t eat a wad of wasabi the size of my fist... for no other reason than challenging each other kept us sharp.
(He then went on to put it in his mouth, take a glass of water, and drink it down. Clever huh? Yeah, we all thought so and I handed him 20 euros. But the joke was on him because guess what happens to your stomach if you don’t get your salivary glands to do some work in your mouth on a wad of wasabi? Yeah. He had a rough night and the story in the morning was worth the money.)
These memories matter even more to me now that some of my dear friends and teammates are no longer alive.
So, remember this: don’t take your team for granted. Appreciate each other. Look after each other. Make some time to goof around together.
With that said, I know a lot of leaders spend time considering team leadership; how can you strengthen your team and work together better?
Here are a few things I’ve learned.
#1 Commit to the team you’ve got.
When I was training for the Olympics, we didn’t get to choose our team, but once it was formed, we all recognized it was special and we were all in.
Our vaunted Team Night Train that broke the 50-year World Championship gold medal and the 62-year Olympic gold medal draughts wasn’t the obvious fit from our day one. Justin Olsen, who was going into his second year in the sport in the fall of 2008 wasn’t a top contender in his rookie year. In fact, he was a bit of a loose cannon.
But Justin showed up to summer testing a new man and just about blew everyone away. He had found his time and he was moved onto the team ahead of a long-time veteran. That didn’t sit well with Curt Tomasevicz and I, but after two months of training and facing the reality this was our team, we accepted Justin.
Once that acceptance took place, we took him in and taught him the ropes of being on the top sled, the discipline needed, and what our values and goals were. With that acceptance came the commitment he needed to feel a part of the team… and the rest is history (30-second vid).
I think that’s what made our team so powerful. Not that we didn’t have any conflict between us, because we did. But because we were committed.
#2 Hold yourself — and each other — accountable.
Do you remember your high school gym teacher yelling this at you: “There is no I in team!”
The funny thing is, a team is made up of individuals. If we don’t take responsibility for our own actions, our energy, the things we bring to the table, the team will suffer.
In sport, even when the teams were built - we still pressure-tested the individual parts.
In other words, it was still up to me to be excellent. Just as it was also up to each of my team members to do the same.
This isn’t just about doing your best. It’s also about seeking out the feedback and accountability to do better.
The research out there on this is pretty clear: the more experienced and successful we are, the more inclined we are to assume we will make the right decisions. Here’s a Harvard Business Review piece digging in a bit more, Fooled by Experience. (And the more likely it is that we naturally surround ourselves with “yes” people who just nod along. Forbes digs in here with Are You Creating 'Yes Men' And Hindering Your Own Leadership Success?)
In my experience, the cornerstone of teamwork is accountability. Trust and security come from knowing that you can and will challenge each other, question each other, help each other know better and do better.
To do this, I try to surround myself with people who will call me on my shit and hold me to the “better and better” standard. (My wife Rhiannon is #1 at this.)
#3 Know when it’s Go time
At the Olympic Press Conference the day before Opening Ceremonies in 2010, I found myself sitting in front of a room full of journalists from around the world. As was customary, adding four years each time, we were asked - “Is this finally the year USA bobsled ends it’s (62) year streak of not winning?”
So my response, naturally, was, “If we do our jobs, we win. And that’s a funny feeling.”
If you’re going to do something big, you’re going to reach a moment where you need to take the leap. That’s the point where you’ve got your team with you, you’ve done the work, and now it’s time to trust that you are ready – and just go for it.
In bobsled, no matter how fast or slow you push at the top, when you hit the dangerous parts of the track at the bottom, you're going the same speed no matter what. A slower start won’t “save” you. So, it’s a total waste to push with trepidation. If you’re going, you have to go all-in.
Successful teams know when that moment is. They plan on it. They know when to flip from gathering data, discussing ideas, working on tinkering and improving… to “go time.”
And when it’s time to go, they go all in – and they go together.
- Steve
