DREAM TEAMS

Logistics Insight Asia, 1/9/2008

BOB GILL

You may be smart and intelligent but if you are not a team player with good working attitude then that is going to be problem. Interviewed for this issue’s C-level Conversation, this was Kewill-IPACS chief Wong Sing Lam’s response when asked the qualities he looks for when hiring for his supply chain software organization.

Yes, teams. Unless you’re a lonely lighthouse operator or a dreamy poet your job most likely requires dayto- day interaction and cooperation with other people. And whether it’s five guys on a warehouse floor or 50 people coordinating a global supply chain, it’s the quality of the teamwork that usually determines the success of the individual and of the team – plus by extension, the organization – itself.

We can all probably think of our own various experiences of teams. The bunch of people thrown together with their own agenda, little harmony and no clear direction. Or that smooth-running, synergistic set-up with lots of mutual trust and extensive collaboration.

Although it is natural to want to get the “best” person for the job, i.e. in terms if qualifications, skills and relevant experience, hiring the “right” person can be the better decision. There are many instances of a team of “stars” being beaten by one that while less stellar on an individual basis works more effectively as a team.

The failure of the McLaren Formula 1 racing team to win the 2007 Driver’s Championship has been laid at the door of poor teamwork. Before the final race in Japan, McClaren was literally in pole position, holding the top two slots through Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, but ended up being toppled by third-placed Kimi Räikkönen from the Ferrari team.

“McClaren wanted to win by creating competition that would get the best out of each driver while Ferrari opted for team collaboration,” noted Petro Parada of Spanish business school ESADE. The heated internal competition that played out (and was encouraged) during the season between team mates Hamilton and Alonso deflected McClaren’s attention away from its real competitor – Ferrari.

The lessons that can be learned include having clear goals, steering the team towards them, and clearly identifying your competitor. And although a certain amount of internal jostling can be healthy, having two big-sized egos and ambitions on the same team is often a formula for failure rather than success.