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,NDAY,DECEMBER 2,2013 • STAR TRIBUNE •BUSINESS•D3 Pulling together: None of us is as good as all of us OUTSWIMMING the importance of teamwork THE SHARKS at every level.While many g HARVEY MACKAY Westerners might think that r consensus is characteristic of Teamwork Japanese culture,institution- might seem like alized conflict is an integral 1 a complicated part of Japanese management. 1 subject, but to 'At Honda,any employee, I some creatures, however junior,can call for a it comes naturally as a way to 'waigaya'session.The rules survive and expend the least are that people lay their amount of energy. cards on the table and speak According to a BBC News directly about problems. story,scientists taped heart "Nothing is out of bounds, monitors to great white peli- from supervisory deficien- cans.These birds had been cies on the factory floor to trained to fly behind a light perceived lack of support for aircraft andaboat,and ateam. adesign team. was able to observe them dur- 11 Waigaya'legitimizes ten- ing their flight.Pelicans,it is sion so that learning can take known, fly in "squadron" place." formation,or in a'V"shape, That example empha- and they flap their wings in sizes the importance of every time with their leader.Sci- member of the team and how entists,now able to observe a real team should function. and gather data from the Each member should be able heart monitors,found that to contribute strengths and the buds'heartbeats were ideas;otherwise,the concept ' lower when they flew in for- of team is meaningless. mation than when they flew Once upon a time,there I solo.Their heart rates slowed was an enterprising business- d because they were able to man who had a fantastic idea t benefit from each other's air He figured out a way to build r streams.They were also able the perfect automobile.He to glide more. hired a team of young engi- i Working together,the birds neers and told them to buy ' were able to accomplish their one of every car model in the migratory goals by expending world and dismantle them s less energy and being able to He instructed them to pick fly farther thanwhenthey are out the best part from every alone.It seems that there is a car and to place it in a spe- r lesson here,and ifs not for the cial room Soon the room was birds. filled with parts judged by a Lester C.Thurow,econo- the group to be the best engi- mist and dean of the Sloan neered in the world—the E School of Management,said: best carburetor,the best set n "There is nothing antithetical of brakes,the best steering ` in American history,culture wheel,the best transmission, or traditions to teamwork. and so on.It was an impres- tl Teams were important in sive collection—more than America's history—wagon 5,000 parts in all.Thenhe had C° trains conquered the West, all the parts assembled into 3. men working together on one automobile—the pick of ' the assembly line in Ameri- the world,so to speak can industry conquered the There was only one prob- e world,a successful national len It didn't work)The auto- strategy and a lot ofteamwork mobile refused to function. u put an American on the moon The parts would not work i1 first(and thus far,last). together. "But American mythology It's the same with people. extols only the individual— A team of people or things the Lone Ranger or Rambo. with a common objective and d In America,balls of fame exist harmony can be superior to a for almost every conceiv- group ofindividual"all-stars" able activity,but nowhere do any day. Americans raise monuments Mackay's Moral:TEAM: in praise of teamwork" Together Everyone Accom- Why is that?I can think of plishes More, sl no single feat that was accom- plished without a little help. Harvey Mackay is a Minneapolis busk �l A story in the Harvard nessman.Contact him at 612.378.6282 e Business Review illustrates ore-mail harvey@mackay.com, i1 LS