This is the very first
blog of MSLD 631, Leading High Performance Teams, and this week’s blog will
focus on a curious tech-company Eco Seagate and their approach to team building.
In a series of two videos (video 1
& video
2), the Eco Seagate version of an outdoor lab team building process is put
on display. Outdoor labs are characteristic of “a backpacking or trip in the
wilderness or park…where ropes, platforms and other props are in place and
sleeping and eating facilities are available.” (Brown, 2011, p. 275). Well Mr.
Watkins (CEO of Eco Seagate) goes well above the basic requirements for an
outdoor lab by landing his team in the wilderness of Jurassic Park’s New Zealand!Honestly when the first
video began to roll my first instinct was to roll my eyes. “Yeah right…like
grunting and slapping your thighs has a lot of value in building teams!” Then I
left my emotional thoughts and allowed my critical thinking to take over. How
many times has my emotional mind in the MLSD journey been wrong? Well, let’s
just say I finished watching the videos and then did a little additional research
on my own in an effort to complete this MSLD 631 assignment.A series of three
questions are asked to complete the assignment. The first question is about the
value of Eco Seagate’s team development process, followed by why this might be
needed in a high performing organization. The last question is how my
organization could benefit from a similar activity.
What Value does Eco Seagate’s Team Development Process Have?
Brown (2011) states that
“Outdoor labs have become very popular as a team development and leadership
training technique” and warns that “If labs are not introduced with planning
and followed up correctly they can become expensive topics of conversation at
coffee breaks.” (p. 276). Brown (2011) lays out how an organization should plan
and follow up (pp. 275-276). While it is not completely evident from the two
videos whether or not the Eco Seagate outdoor lab followed the prescribed guidelines
as outlined in Brown (2011), the O’Brian (2008) Team
Building in Paradise provides testimony that suggests this is a very
tightly run outdoor lab.
For
starters, the company is 55,000 strong and employees are located all over the
world. A company spread out across the globe is challenged to develop teamwork
within workgroups not physically located in close proximity. So it makes sense
that Eco Seagate uses an outdoor lab to bring employees who have never been in
the same room together to establish one on one relationships. My personal
experience in managing projects is that making a personal connection with the
people involved in the project makes all the difference in the world, so I see
why Eco Seagate would hold these outdoor labs, if only for bringing company
employees together to make those personal connections (more on this later).
Because
these 2,000 employees are flown in from around the globe and placed in an
environment that is foreign to everyone, everyone is on neutral ground. The significance
of ‘neutral ground’ cannot be overemphasized in team-building environments were
managers and subordinates are asked to form teams. Titles no longer matter.
Everyone is expected to pull their own weight and everyone is on equal footing
and “members learn to trust and depend on one another” (Brown, 2011, p. 274).
Stripping the titles from managers allows the trust element to be
bi-directional instead of Omni-directional which consequently can lead to
managers trusting subordinates to lead their own projects and for managers to
share power with them. This quote in my view from Mr. Watkins is priceless “There are no titles. You work together, treat
each other like human beings, and there's great camaraderie. As companies grow,
you create silos and you become titles. So I'd quit and go back to a startup. I
finally got convinced to stay and try to manage people."
Why Might Outdoor
Labs be needed in a High Performing Organization?
Let’s zoom-in for a
second on what makes up a high performing organization. Probably safe to assert
that high performing organizations have high performing teams. High performing
teams are characterized by several attributes, but let’s focus on one “High-performance
teams carry out their work with shared passion. The notion that ‘if one of us
fails, we all fail’ pervades the team.” (Katzenbach & Smith, as cited by
Denning, 2012, p. 156).
The idea that we are all
in this together exemplifies very type of the team exercises that Eco Seagate’s
orchestrates. Here is a testimony from one Eco Seagate employee “Within minutes
of receiving our tribe designation, we had religion and began chanting. Ruru!
Fists on tables. Ruru! Hands in the air. Ruru”. There is something special
about reciting a ridiculous chant in a team seating and I think that something
special is trust building. Trust that the team is in it together, to fail or
succeed. “When you ask people about what it is like being part of a great team,
what is most striking is the meaningfulness of the experience…Some spend the
rest of their lives looking for ways to recapture that spirit.” (Senge, as
cited by Denning, 2012, p. 156). It is easy to imagine Eco Seagate employees
forever remembering the intimate team-building experiences they shared.
So how is this going to
benefit a high performing organization? This is an easy answer; by providing a
constant supply of energized and enthused employees that can aid in continuing
the drive to maintain high performance teams.
Can My Organization Benefit from a Similar Activity?
Yes, without a doubt.
The first benefit envisioned would be the stripping of titles and having
managers and supervisors all at the same level as frontline employees. The
hierarchal structure in my organization is so rigid that it would benefit management
to have to rely on frontline employees to lead wilderness tasks to
completion. There is a large trust and
sharing of power issue in my department and this type of exercise could have a
significant impact.
Summary
Mr. Watkins seems to be
the type of person that most would go to war with and he has made Eco Seagate a
model of a high performing company that many aspire to work for including
myself. His use of outdoor labs is brilliant and designed to meet his company’s
specific needs, which I assert to be building those personal relationships that
are needed to create high performing teams. I will be keeping an eye on Eco
Seagate’s job
board!
References:
Brown,
R. D, (2011). An experiential approach to
organization development (Eighth edition.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice Hall.
Denning,
S. (2011). The leader's guide to
storytelling: Mastering the art and discipline of business narrative. San
Francisco, CA: Josey-Bass.
Watkins. B. (2008). EcoSeagate and Team Development 1/3 [Video
file]. Retrieved from
Watkins. B. (2008). EcoSeagate and Team Development 2/3 [Video
file]. Retrieved from
O’Brien,
J. (2008, May 21st). Team building in paradise. Retrieved from
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