Team of Teams

Who's In and Who's Out? 

If you had asked my Mum and Dad 40 years ago "how many people make up your family?" they would have said "six" - both of them and four children. Today my brothers, sister and I have all left home and between us we have seven children of our own as well as partners. Ask my Mum and Dad today "how many people make up your family?" and would you expect the answer to still be "six"? After all they still have the same number of children. Yet each child has their own family.

Ask me today how many people are in my family and I'd probably say "four" - my wife and two sons. Have I forgotten whose family I'm in? Have I prioritised another? Or am I in both simultaneously?

Which Team are we in? 

This got me thinking about how leaders count members of their team and the family analogy helped appreciate the complexities involved. There is a tendency amongst leaders and even coaches to prioritise a "1st Team". But can't someone, like with a family, be in more than one team at once?

I sometimes hear people say they are 50% in one team and 50% in another. Yet teams, like families, don't take anything less than 100% - you're either in the team or you're not. There is no half-way house. You might only have 50% of your time with that team, but your responsibility and membership for that team is 100%.

So to my Mum and Dad, I know that I don't spend anywhere near 50% of my time with you! But I still feel like I am part of your family team. Perhaps leaders and coaches in complex organisations might help people in multiple teams to recognise the systemic nature of their relationships. Then we might realise we can be unique contributors within a wider social fabric of multiple teams and multiple families.

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