Timestamps

00:00:00: Introduction

00:03:55: "This won't work for me because…"

00:07:46: Score yourself on a scale

00:12:57: Ideas for action…

00:13:00: … 1: what you uniquely bring to your team

00:17:27: … 2: sort out a sticking point

00:20:47: … 3: be strategic about your support

00:25:45: … 4: share your strengths with your team

00:29:22: … 5: one plus one equals three

00:36:30: Final thoughts

Interview Transcription

Sarah Ellis: Hi, I'm Sarah.

Helen Tupper: And I'm Helen.

Sarah Ellis: And this is the Squiggly Careers podcast.  Every week, we talk about a different topic to do with work, and share some ideas and actions that we hope to help all of us to navigate our Squiggly Career with that bit more confidence and control.

Helen Tupper: And today, we're going to be talking about how to bring your best to a team.  But before we get started, we want to make sure that you know about all the extra resources we've got to support you.  So, as well as this episode today, you can also download a one-page PodSheet, which you can print, use with your team, just use it to reflect on, and you can also join some of our conversations that we have with our learning community.  So, if you want to sign up for PodPlus, that happens most weeks for half an hour on a Thursday.  It is free and it's a lovely community of like-minded learners.  You can get all the links for those things that are either on our website, amazingif.com, or they're in the show notes too. So, back to today then, how to bring your best to a team.  Sarah and I were reflecting on topics and we were like, "Oh, do you know what, we've done quite a few heavy things like, 'When moves go wrong!'".

Sarah Ellis: Well, we're going to do another heavy one!

Helen Tupper: Yeah, we've got another heavy one coming.

Sarah Ellis: There's another one coming next and so we were like, "Maybe we should do something a bit more light-hearted, before we talk about being a workaholic", apparently next week, is what we're going to do.

Helen Tupper: Yeah, that's what we're going to do!  So, we are thoughtful about these podcasts, everyone, we don't pluck them out of the hat.  I mean, we have themes that we're like, "Is that too heavy for too many in a row?"  So, we've decided this one is kind of a light, positive one for people to have a think about and take some action with.  And the reason we think it's important for anyone to think about bringing their best to the team, obviously it's a nice thing to do.  I think it's a nicer team when this is our approach to them.  But also, selfishly, you and your team's success is completely interlinked. So, if I bring my best to a team in order to help make that team more successful, then I achieve more too, so everybody wins.  And I was doing some research around this area, and it was saying that when you have a high-performing team, so I'm bringing my best to it to help the team and that encourages other people to contribute with their strengths too, and everyone kind of gets better, everyone's standing out, then what happens is that the team is almost like a magnet for more.  So, that team stands out and it attracts more opportunities, it attracts higher-profile projects, it attracts more support from senior stakeholders, it attracts more budget.  And so, it really has quite a big domino effect when this is how you approach working in teams.

Sarah Ellis: And it got me thinking a bit about, which is not a word I use very often at work, but 'legacy'.  I was like, "Oh, I feel very old when I talk about legacy.  What's your legacy?"  But actually, I think every team that you spend time in, you leave a bit of a legacy, like how you showed up, did you bring your best?  And teams change and form and break up and get re-put together in different ways.  So, no team, I think, stays static for very long, but you probably are in a core team for a while.  And I always think, during that time, really reflecting on, are you bringing your best?  What more could you do?  As Helen said, it only ever has really upside.  But also, I just think then when you reflect and look back, you then just feel really good about the impact that you've had.

Helen Tupper: We're trying to be realistic about this, because I think every team is different.  And I think maybe not all teams feel easy to contribute.

Sarah Ellis: What are you trying to say?"  Just say what you mean, Helen, "Some teams are really awful to be in!"

Helen Tupper: Some teams are just rubbish to be in!  And you might be thinking, "Well, I'd love to bring my best, Helen and Sarah, but the reality of my team is it's an absolute nightmare".  And so, we did want to be realistic about some of the challenges that you might experience so that we are presenting this idea about being your best in the reality of what your role might be like at the moment.  So, we thought we'd share some, "This won't work for me because…" statements that might be reflective of your experience if it is a bit of a trickier team at the moment, and then just give you a couple of maybe like reframes or different ways that you can approach it, if that is your reality.  So, here's where we got to. 

And if we haven't covered yours, then maybe get in touch with us afterwards and we can help. But we thought that maybe some of you that might be having a difficult moment at the moment with a team might be thinking, "Well, nice idea, Helen and Sarah, but this won't work for me because my manager doesn't support me".  I have been in this situation.  If this is you, we think you can still bring your best, but you've got to do it in a slightly different way.  So, maybe try and focus on helping people on a one-to-one basis; so, not necessarily in a team meeting where everyone's there and you might be worried about what your manager's thinking, but reach out to individuals.  The reality is that they are probably experiencing some similar challenges with their managers, so they'd really appreciate that interaction with you. Another one, "This won't work for me because I don't get on with my team".  I've been there too. 

The reframe, or way of rethinking this one, is teams don't always have to be about what they might look like on an organisation chart, so the one that you are officially in.  There are often unofficial teams, could be a project team or to be honest, any network in or outside of work; any group that has a shared purpose that's brought it together is a team.  So, don't get too fixed on, "I don't get on with my team, therefore I can't bring my best to it".  Just think about 'team' maybe slightly broader and focus your efforts on a different team instead. "This won't work for me because my team all work remotely. 

How am I supposed to help them with my best in that scenario?"  We think this is actually an opportunity.  So, the rethink here is that remote doesn't have to limit your contribution to the team.  You just need to be creative about how you bring your best virtually.  So for example, if one of the ways that I bring my best is by giving energy and fun to the team, I just have to think about, well, in our virtual meetings, how do I translate that to those moments, rather than being reliant on it happening in person and bringing, I don't know, chocolates or cake or wine, or whatever I might bring to make it more fun; what does it look like virtually? "This won't work for me, Helen and Sarah, because I'm new, I don't know this team, they don't know me. 

How am I supposed to bring my best to it?"  We think here that the best way to approach this is to think about how your fresh perspective can bring a unique value.  I actually think this is some of the ways that I have brought my best to teams in the past, when they have been going around in circles and saying the same stuff and everyone's sort of lost a bit of direction.  Actually bringing fresh eyes or a different perspective can really, really add value in those situations. One more, "This won't work for me because they are all better than me.  How can I bring my best when they are better?" 

And first of all, if that is you, that does feel really hard and you might want some support with your confidence gremlins, and we have other episodes on that, because there's likely to be something else going on for you there.  But I think the thing to attach yourself here is that bringing your best doesn't always have to be about the answers that you give, but it can be about the questions that you ask.  When you ask thoughtful questions that make other people consider the objectives and perspectives and just make people just kind of stop and think, then that can create clarity for people outside of the team too.  Maybe other people aren't confident enough to ask those questions, but questions create clarity and they also demonstrate curiosity, and you don't have to be the expert in the area in order to do both of those things.

Sarah Ellis: So, we're going to share five ideas for action about how you can bring your best to a team, but before we do that, we thought it was just worth reflecting on where you are right now.  So, if you're in a, "This won't work for me because…" maybe you're at the lower end of this scale, or you might be at the higher end of this scale that we're going to describe, and it's really about just being even better than where you are today. 

So, maybe just start by instinctively giving yourself a score, kind of 0 to 5, 5 being the highest, in terms of how confident do you feel at the moment that you're bringing your best to your team? Maybe 1 would be, you can't really see how to be your best, and perhaps you don't even know what your best is, so you've got a lot of don't knows there, so you're feeling probably very stuck, probably in some of those, "This won't work for me because…" scenarios that Helen just described.  If you're middle of the road, so if you're more like a 3 perhaps, there feels like there are some opportunities for you to be your best, but maybe it feels ad hoc, maybe it doesn't always feel appreciated, maybe it's just a bit inconsistent.  And if you are a 4.5 up to a 5, I'm always a bit hesitant to do a 5 out of 5.  I'm like, "That can't be a real thing".

Helen Tupper: "I'm bringing my best every minute, every day!"

Sarah Ellis: All day, every day!  You're the AI version of you probably if you're doing this!  But this is where you're not only you're bringing your best, but you could also see the difference that it makes.  Because I think it's one thing to bring your best, but it's another to then see the ripple effects that that can have.  So, just know where you're starting from.  And then as we go through the ideas, think which of these ideas would nudge me up one point on this scale.  Don't try and do all of the things, try and do one of them and try and do the one that you think would make the difference for you.  What's your score at the moment, Helen, 0 to 5?

Helen Tupper: Bringing my best to the team?

Sarah Ellis: The team that you and I are both in, and I can judge whatever you say!

Helen Tupper: You can, you can.  Like a 3.75.  Is that too low?  Because I think I do bring lots of valuable things to the team, but I think there are some things that I'm good at that I don't always get time.  You know like we've talked before about prototyping and starting things and experimenting and building momentum, and I feel like that requires more unstructured time for me to do some of those things and sort of read and play out.  And I think at the moment, that's just not possible with the amount of things we're committed to, which is absolutely fine because I love what we're doing, but I think that's probably limiting some of the goodness that I can bring to the team.  What would you say yours is?

Sarah Ellis: Well, I mean I mentioned this to you when we were preparing beforehand.  I would probably be a 2 because I've almost had to opt out at the moment from being part of a team, which actually feels very unusual, and it's quite a weird experience.  And the reason for that is because we are writing our next book at the moment, and it turns out it's actually really hard to write a book and run a business.  And so, I mean, who knew?  You probably could have guessed that; we probably should have guessed that.  So, it does mean at the moment that I am showing up very inconsistently in the team, by choice, because I'm doing some day-to-day stuff, but then I'm doing more writing.  And actually, I'm just not there for team conversations.  I've become sort of a solo operator from a room surrounded by an increasing amount of books and Post-it notes that I'm looking at right now, which is also why we're recording a podcast at 9.00 a Monday night, for lots of good reasons.

So I was like, actually, it was really interesting just preparing for this podcast, because I think I miss it.  I miss bringing my best to a team, because I actually think when you do that, there's a lot of reward in it for you.  And I think most of the time, you and I probably do, we're probably more like a 3.5 to a 4, depending on how good we are that day or that week. 

And then to suddenly be like, "Oh, I've dropped down two points in that scale", I can really feel that, and it makes you think you definitely wouldn't want to stay here too long.  So, definitely different when it's happened to you versus a choice, which it's definitely been a choice, so I think I'm finding it easier to accept, but I'm still finding it harder than I'd imagined, as somebody who is introverted and actually very happy writing and very happy by herself.  I've got lots of the right characteristics to not be part of a team.

Helen Tupper: Oh, that's sad.

Sarah Ellis: But then I actually do miss it.  So, it can make you sad in all sorts of ways.

Helen Tupper: Well, just to go back to that point we said at the start about when you bring the best, the team gets better, I can see the impact on the overall team's performance of not having you 5 out of 5 contributing to it.  There are just little holes.  And I can carry it for a little while, but ultimately it's a better business when you bring your best.  So, it is missed.

Sarah Ellis: It would be bad if it was the other way round though, right?

Helen Tupper: Yeah, can you imagine like, "Sarah, we don't need you, just go, just stay on your own for a bit longer!"  No, I can see the loss.

Sarah Ellis: Yeah, "What we've actually realised is you don't really need to bother".  I'm like, "Oh, early retirement, here I go!"

Helen Tupper: You'd be very bored.

Sarah Ellis: Yeah, I would be.  So, let's go into the five ways you can bring your best to a team.  So, number one, work out what you uniquely bring to your team.  So, I think the watch-out here when you're thinking about being your best for a team is to not try to be all things to all people.  You don't need to be the best at everything to bring your best.  What you need to do is figure out what are you best at, and then how is that useful for your team.  So, Helen's talked already today about, well, Helen brings her energy and she brings her clarity.  They're not top of my list. 

I bring ideas, a bit of empathy, and actually very specifically what sometimes in our team gets called the Sarah scan, which for better or worse, I'm quite good at scanning a document or a proposal and then looking for, "Okay, well, we've missed this point", or, "Maybe that's not quite on brand or with the tone that we would want".  And so, I think having the confidence in that is a really important starting point. 

And then looking for, "Well, how often am I bringing that?" Helen talked about actually a gap that she's got.  So, one of the things that she knows she can also uniquely bring is her prototyping, her ability to try stuff out fast.  And she's right, she doesn't do that right now.  So, she's not edging to the 5 out of 5 until she can figure out a way to go, "Well, I know I've got that in my locker, so to speak, but it's just not being used, it's not there at the moment".  And so, maybe worth doing a bit of an exercise where you think, "What are the two or three things that mean I'm at my best?  How often am I using them?  Where else could I use them?  Who could I talk to in my team about using them more?

Helen Tupper: I also think you can look back a little bit on this, can't you?  So, like on the prototyping thing, if I think, "Well, do you know what, that's one way that I uniquely add value to a team", and right now I might be thinking, "I don't quite know what that looks like in my team, or I can't quite work out how to do it", I think it can be quite useful to think, "Well, when did I last do it?  What was the team that I did this in the most?" and almost thinking, "What were the conditions then?  How did I do that?  How did that happen?" and thinking about how you can replicate it. 

Because the fact that you know this is something that you've got to bring means you've probably used it in a situation before.  And looking back at that context might help you think how you apply it in the new one. The other thing, just a sort of caution on this one about bringing your best, I think your best also doesn't have to be someone else's.  So, back to the point of what Sarah brings is different to me, it is fine.  I don't need to bring what Sarah brings brilliantly.  I'm never going to be as good as Sarah is at the Sarah scan, and that is okay.  So, don't beat yourself up if your best isn't what someone else's is, just really get clear and confident about what yours is and how it can be helpful.

Sarah Ellis: Yeah, I think that actually took me a little while to let go of, because actually for some of the teams that I've been part of that are very good, people are really good at stuff, right?  Back to your point about you're working with people who are very smart, I would sometimes see people at their best and think, "Wow, they bring these skills and these strengths that I don't have, or I certainly don't have as much as they have them", and then maybe you would slightly diminish what you bring.  And I think the moment I started to almost just accept, "I have got some strengths but you know what, there's loads of things I'm not great at, that is fine", sort of accepting that you won't ever be as good as those people are at that thing and letting go of it, I think was quite a big moment for me in my career.  I think I was way happier once I did that.

Helen Tupper: Well, I think as well, work kind of goes in waves sometimes.  So, there's definitely sometimes things that we are working on where I can bring a lot of my best to it.  And then there's sometimes where there's something we're working on and you're the better person in that situation.  And it doesn't mean that I've completely disappeared, it just means that I recognise that in that situation or that meeting or that project, this is where you contribute the most, and you've got to give someone the space.  And I think if you can't do that, then you end up competing with your colleagues because you're like, "Well, I want to be seen as the best, I want to be..."  It's about bringing your best, not always trying to be the best. 

It sounds like semantics, but I do think it's different, because if you are always trying to be the best and better than everyone else, I think you start getting, I don't know, I think your ego maybe starts to get in the way and you start trying to compete with people, but it's not good.  It's just like, I always say the "run your own race" thing.  This is about you bringing your best to help the team get better.

Sarah Ellis: Number two, sort out a sticking point.  I think this is a really smart thing to do.  It's worked for me, I've seen it work for other people, I've actually heard this advice from other people as well.  Within your team, there will be a problem that is annoying, that is not getting solved or an issue that's on everyone's mind.  And it is such a good opportunity for you to basically volunteer if you feel like it's something where you're like, "Well, this is an opportunity here, I could bring some of my best and apply it to something that matters for the team".  And it doesn't always have to be something really strategic.  I think sometimes here we think, "Oh, this has to be a big project or a really big opportunity".  I think it can just be something really annoying.

I remember once, we were doing, for one of the companies I worked for, we were doing not even a proper office move.  It was like a floor move, from like level 3 to level 4.  Nobody wants to sort that out, right?  You're like, "Oh, just –" and that's not something I put my hand up for, to be clear, and I would not be the right person for that.  But it's funny, I still remember now the guy that did.  And he was methodical and diligent and organised, and he was like, "Yeah, I can do this, I can make this happen".  And you just see everybody's sigh of relief that somebody you just trust, they're like, "Oh, they're going to bring their best to this".  It's probably not their absolutely dream project either, but it is a really useful thing. 

And I think the build on this, I would say, is if you can sort out a sticking point or a problem with someone else in your team, it's sort of like bonus points or double points. The time that I have done this, when I've done things like help a marketing team with their career development and capability, I could have definitely done that by myself, but there was somebody else in our team, also called Sarah, so maybe there's something in the name Sarah, and she was equally passionate about this.  And it was nobody's job, and it was probably only ever going to get done if somebody put some time and effort into it.  And we actually had different strengths, so we both brought our respective strengths but our shared passion for solving the problem. 

And I'm so glad that we did.  It's so much more fun, you also build a brilliant relationship with that individual that you're working with, who is still my friend today, that's really stayed with me, and you also make a difference to the team together.  And I just think it's a more sort of enjoyable process, whereas if you're trying to do this solo, it can be a bit disheartening or you might just feel like you've not got the sponsorship or you end up getting a bit stuck.

Helen Tupper: But you know the sticking points or the knotty moments at work when you buddy up with somebody, they're really bonding.

Sarah Ellis: Yeah, definitely.

Helen Tupper: They're very unique and memorable experiences.

Sarah Ellis: Memorable, yeah.  Me and Sarah still look back on that and we're both still really -- I mean, I'm not a nostalgic person and I've got a rubbish memory, but every time we catch up for coffee, we still reminisce a bit about it.  We're like two grannies being like, "Oh, do you remember doing that?"  Yeah, it felt like a real moment in time.  And yeah, I mean I think we made it much more than it needed to be because we got overly enthusiastic about it.  But it was only really a small problem we were solving when we got started.  We just then grew it into something quite big because we were enjoying it so much.

Helen Tupper: So, our third idea for action to bring your best to the team is to be strategic about your support, and this is who you support and how you support them.  So, I think generically waking up in the morning and going, "I'm just going to bring my best to the team today", I mean that's a lovely intent, that's a very positive thing to wake up and think.  But you might reduce your impact because you haven't really thought through, "Well, who does that mean I'm helping?  And what am I going to bring to that situation or the conversation?"  And I think when you think like that, you're more specific and strategic about the support that you give to people, and that means it's probably going to have a bigger impact. We were thinking about, if you were to categorise -- this is a table, by the way, in my head, which Sarah's probably shaking like, "Helen's brought out a table". 

But I almost see a table here where you think about the different people that you can support at work.  So, at a very high level, I think that most of us can support a manager at work; we can support the individuals in our team, like on a one-to-one basis; you can support your team as a whole, so in kind of a group context, like a team meeting or a project meeting; and then I think there are probably also some specific stakeholders.  I think they are four very typical categories of people that we can support at work.  And I think if you had a table, so for each one of those types of people, you had, what projects are they currently working on; what are their priorities, so what's top of their to-do list; and what are some of their problems, then I think you can start being really strategic about, "Well, how am I going to support that person?" So, if I think about Sarah, she's not my manager, though she might like to be.  Would you like to manage me?  No, no.

Sarah Ellis: No!

Helen Tupper: No, I mean you'd probably hate me, like sending her to a different team!

Sarah Ellis: No.  I mean, I would like to manage you, because you'd make me look good!  So, that's always the advice, right, hire people who are going to make you look good.  So, that there would be lots of upsides.

Helen Tupper: Oh, okay.

Sarah Ellis: I think I'm just over the days of being, you know when you're just -- I can't imagine myself now in quite the same way being a manager as I once was.  So, that's why Amazing If needs to keep working well.

Helen Tupper: So, we don't have to go back!  But I take Sarah, for example.  Then I might think, "Okay, what projects is Sarah working on at the moment?"  So, as you heard earlier, Sarah is taking the lead on the first draft of the book.  That's a really big thing for Sarah.  And there'll be some other things, some of the partnerships we have with companies on career training that Sarah is leading on.  And I think about, "Okay, so they're her projects.  What are Sarah's priorities?" and I know some of those things, "and what are some of the problems that Sarah is maybe experiencing at the moment?"  And it helps me think, "Well, how can I be most helpful?  With the good things that I've got to bring, how can I be most helpful to Sarah?"  And that was probably going to be a different answer than what I might end up with by going through the same process with somebody else in our team.  And you don't have to help everybody at once, and you don't have to help everybody in the same way, but I do think this helps you to see how you make a difference to different people and then make some decisions about where you might want to start.

Sarah Ellis: I think you're naturally very good at this because you're quite flexible in your approach.  So, because you've got lots of things that you could give, I think if someone needs quick decisions, you can give them quick decisions; if they need energy, if they need clarity, you're good I think at listening and then spotting what someone needs.  And what I think that helps you to avoid, which I think you could fall into this trap way more than me, is I don't see you people-pleasing.  Maybe a tiny bit sometimes.  But in the main, I think because you are strategic about thinking about how you can be useful, it stops you trying to be useful to everyone all of the time.  And it means that you don't say yes all of the time to everyone and everything. 

And I think it's almost like this is kind of the pros and the cons of being good at this.  Because I think you are naturally somebody who wants to be helpful and supportive as a manager, that's like how you show up.  And then I think the problem with that can then end up being, your days are dominated by other people rather than your own agenda. But I think if you go through the process that you've described where you go, "Right, what does it mean to be my best in this team?  And then how can I be useful for manager, individuals, teams", but also going, "not all at the same time".  And back to that, I always love that Liz Wiseman question from High Impact Players where she says, "The people who are really brilliant in organisations are very good at going, 'What's most important now?' and they're always just asking that question, 'What's most important now?'"  So, I think that's the kind of wrapper that you have to put around Helen's table here just to make sure that you don't end up just doing everything for lots of other people all the time.

Helen Tupper: We'll include the link to the Liz Wiseman podcast in the PodSheet, because it's a really good episode that I think links well with what we're talking about today.

Sarah Ellis: Action number four is sharing your strengths with your team.  So, this is something that I have seen people do really consistently well when they're showing up well for their team.  And sometimes that might mean sharing your strength in a very explicit, transparent way as in, "I'm going to write an email every week with three things that I've found out about the industry, because I'm really curious", or, "I'm going to do a newsletter, or I'm going to do a video".  Or, it might look like spotting more informal opportunities to use your strength across the team, and kind of talking about it and making it as visible as possible, so that more people start to pull your strength towards them.

The example I've seen actually is, we have Danielle in our team, and Danielle works in finance and operations, and she's great with data.  And I think when she first started working in Amazing If, she did her thing with data in her world and in her context.  And then I think she started volunteering that skillset a bit more across all of Amazing If.  And I think we invited her into a few conversations and we could see how useful that skillset is across lots of different things, not necessarily just in her sort of world.  And then what I'm seeing now is people proactively going to her, like seeking her out, because they want to bring that skill into what they're doing, and it's probably not their forte.  And so, I can just see over time that she's sharing that strength she's got more and more with the team, so she's definitely bringing more of her best to the team; the team is doing better because they're benefiting from all of Danielle's expertise around data, like we benefit from that as well; and then back to Helen's point where we started, you just start to see how everybody wins.  And suddenly, people are involved in conversations they weren't involved in before. I just think that's a brilliant example, because often we'll talk about, you might want to write something on LinkedIn or you might want to share those things.  But often, I think it doesn't look like that.  Often, I think it's about those more everyday small things that people need some support with. 

And it's just trying to connect those dots between the strengths you've got and then going, "Oh, that data one, actually, that could be helpful over here and it could be helpful here".  And it's hard to necessarily anticipate exactly what that's going to look like.  But I think once people start to see it in action, if you can share those examples, it makes it easier for people to understand, "Oh, actually, I've got a data set here.  Wait a minute.  I know someone who can help me with that".  And then you become the go-to, right?  We talk about being kind of the go-to expert to get expert insights.  I can see that happening with Danielle and our team.  And it doesn't happen overnight.  I think this is one where I feel like you chip away at this and you kind of nudge yourself forward.  But I definitely have observed that she's way further forward with that now, sharing that strength that she's got, versus where she was 12 months ago.

Helen Tupper: Yeah, I think it's probably such a good example in our team of where we're seeing this this happening and everybody getting better, like everybody marketing is better, the work that we do with organisations is better because of her, how proactive she is about spotting ways that she can use that ability to help the team get better.

Sarah Ellis: I wonder if she'll listen this week.

Helen Tupper: Well, we had a team meeting today that unfortunately Sarah couldn't make for the reasons we talked about, and I did say like, "Heads up, you're going to get a shout-out on the podcast today!"  So, she might listen and I can imagine her just being really, really embarrassed, like, "Move on, move on!"

Sarah Ellis: Yeah, definitely not her.  She's not a jazz-hands sort of person.  I think you should talk about number five, because almost unbelievably and so incredibly, and I was so shocked reading it, I sent Helen a WhatsApp going, "Have I read this right?"  So, Helen has number five, and she has a sports example to share.  Over to you.

Helen Tupper: So, I thought Sarah could talk about this but she's gone.

Sarah Ellis: And I refused to!

Helen Tupper: Okay, so let's just talk about the concept.

Sarah Ellis: You did the research. Helen Tupper: All right, okay.  Let's talk about the concept.  So, the idea here is sort of one plus one equals three.  So, all the ideas that we've got so far are about how do you, as an individual, help your team by bringing your best to the team, which is all valid and we've talked through.  But I think once you've got this idea of bringing your best, the absolute dream scenario for the team, the team dream, is that everybody is bringing their best.  So, it's not just you contributing to this, not just Danielle at Amazing If, but everybody knows what their best is. 

And so individually, we know what bringing our best looks like; and collectively, we've got a really good understanding of what bringing our best is; and we start to look at our work and across all of us as a community, as a team, we're thinking, "Well, who's the best person to work on that thing at that time?" using someone's talents really as the filter for what they're working on, rather than that kind of slightly ladder-like way of looking at things that's very title orientated. So, you end up with a much better outcome for the team.  It's not just, "I do this and Sarah does this", and it's the same as our individual efforts.  Something new and distinct and unique is created by all of us bringing our best.  So, this is a nice idea.  I thought, "Oh, do you know what?  I'll find a team example that isn't the Amazing If team.  I'll find a team example of what I think this looks like".  And I thought, "What are some examples that people would relate to?"  And I thought sports; people love a sports example.

Sarah Ellis: Yes, but you don't.

Helen Tupper: No, I know, that's why I went to ChatGPT, Sarah!  And so I was like --

Sarah Ellis: Oh, do you know what, that now makes a lot more sense, because I was reading some of this going, "This doesn't make sense"!

Helen Tupper: "How does she know this?"!  Okay, so I went to ChatGPT and I was like, "What is a sporting example of where individuals bring their best and the team is better because of it?"  Now, do you know what I should have done?  There was a rugby one.  I should have put that in there and then you would have been happy talking about Johnny Wilkinson.

Sarah Ellis: Also, I could have done a better job and I feel like it's more team-y than the one you've chosen.

Helen Tupper: Okay, well let me go there!

Sarah Ellis: Do you know what?  Go with it, and I'm going to stay open-minded about how team-orientated this example is.

Helen Tupper: Okay, so it's a cycling team.  It's Team GB at the Olympic Games.  And the thing here is --

Sarah Ellis: To be clear, not the most recent Olympic Games, because I know for a fact that these people don't cycle anymore!

Helen Tupper: No, I know, and I think there were some arguments.  I think I might have seen some arguments between these people, but I'm just going to leave cycling gossip to one side.  But the point is, the team was better able to win a stash of medals at the Olympic Games.

Sarah Ellis: Stash!

Helen Tupper: I don't know what the right term is; a collection?  I don't know.  A flock of medals?

Sarah Ellis: Not a stash!

Helen Tupper: Anyway, you're just being so mean.  Keep going, everyone, just keep listening to this example!

Sarah Ellis: This is my favourite thing ever.

Helen Tupper: Right, this will be in the end-of-year podcast when Sarah's like, "Do you remember that time you talked about the cycling team, and didn't know what you were saying?"  Right, keep going everyone.  So, the team won a collection, because I'm not allowed to say stash, of medals because they individually utilised their strengths.  This is what I got to here.  So, they're all good cyclists, but Chris Hoy was a powerful sprinter, Bradley Wiggins, I know Bradley Wiggins, well not personally, but I know him, he was really good at endurance, Laura Trott, she was great at multi-disciplines, and Victoria Pendleton was very good at sprints as well.  So, they recognised that there were certain cycling things that each of them was better at, and then they used that appropriately for the team, and that resulted in them winning more medals.  The strategic approach helped Team GB become a dominant force in track cycling, particularly during the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics, where they won numerous gold medals.  They had a gold-medal stash because they all played to their best.  That is the end of that cycling story!

Sarah Ellis: Yeah, I mean I've got quite a lot of questions.

Helen Tupper: Don't ask me them, I can't answer them!  I can't answer your questions.  I was just trying to find a relatable example, but I feel like I should have just not done that!

Sarah Ellis: No, I very much enjoyed it.

Helen Tupper: I'm glad.  That's how I bring my best.  I brought you joy.

Sarah Ellis: Yeah, I mean you really have.  And I do think it's a very good demonstration of why we don't just rely on AI for getting answers to things, because I guess my slight problem with the example is that they weren't working together as a team.

Helen Tupper: But they were, they were team GB.

Sarah Ellis: Yeah, but sure, but they're not like cycling and then passing on to the next person and passing on to the next person.

Helen Tupper: No, but teams aren't always what's on an org chart.  They're not a relay team, they were team GB.

Sarah Ellis: Sure, okay. Helen Tupper: And it was a cycling team and they were trying to win as many gold medals for the country.

Sarah Ellis: Yeah, I mean you'd have to look at it like that, which is an interesting way to look at it.  I do buy that.

Helen Tupper: They were literally called, "The Team GB Cycling Team".

Sarah Ellis: Yeah, okay.  Well, and actually, do you know what?  The methodology behind cycling is referenced in loads of business books, isn't it?  I've seen that as an example from Matthew Syed quite a few times.

Helen Tupper: There were other examples.  There were rowing teams, there were rugby teams.

Sarah Ellis: Well they were all about that -- I think you have actually got it from your ChatGPT thing, they talked a lot about marginal gains, didn't they, like incremental gains.  Like, washing your hands properly was always the famous example, I think.  But I don't think we should dive further into it.  But I believe in the point, I think the point stands.  I think the example's funny, there might be other ones.  There's that good American football example, isn't there?

Helen Tupper: The NFL one?

Sarah Ellis: Yeah, we've used it before in some of our values workshops, where they got a team of, I think they were individual superstars, but they were still losing.  And then they started to do a lot more of like, "How do we all bring our best?  How do we bring our strengths?  How do we talk about what motivates us?"  And suddenly they all sort of started bringing their best, but for each other rather than for themselves.  And so, perhaps I'll find the link to that, because that's actually a really good article to read, about what they did and the process they went through.  I'll find that and add that in as well, just in case anyone wanted an extra example.

Helen Tupper: Sarah clearly doesn't quite think my cycling one has cut it.

Sarah Ellis: Yeah, I think I could be convinced.  But that's the point of ChatGPT, right, is I think our argument would be, it can get you started.  But then if it raises more questions, that's good, because then you keep researching and you keep learning, and that's a useful thing.  Should I summarise the five ways?

Helen Tupper: Please do.

Sarah Ellis: Okay.  Number one: work out what you uniquely bring to your team; number two: sort out a sticking point; number three: be strategic about your support; number four: share your strengths with your team; and number five: combine your team strengths, so that one plus one equals three, and make sure your focus is not only, "How can I bring my best to a team?" but, "How can we be our best as a team?"

Helen Tupper: So, that is everything for today.  As we said, everything will be summarised in the PodSheet.  So, head to our website, amazingif.com if you want to download, have a look, and learn a bit more from that.  But otherwise, we'll be back with you with another episode, a slightly deeper episode, about workaholism next week.

Sarah Ellis: Thank you so much for listening, everyone.  Back with you again soon.  Bye for now

Helen Tupper: Bye.