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Steve Jobs could not stand having to work with ‘bozos’ but he could also be respectful of excellence. While Pixar’s John Lasseter was as driven as Jobs, he demonstrated it in a different way, less effusive and sharp than Jobs, gentle and fun, nurturing his team rather than challenging them.
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The pairing of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson by US Ryder Cup captain Hal Sutton in 2004 backfired badly. They were the current number 1 and 2 players in the world, but the only bond they had was a mutual dislike, ‘a partnership that made Tom and Jerry look compatible’.
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For the SAS there can be no internal conflict: the results would be deadly. Teams know precisely how they will enter every room, who goes in, in what order, who covers the others: meticulous preparation designed to avoid the nightmare of a ‘blue on blue’, shooting a colleague in error.
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Team meetings at the British Red Cross can get heated – the stakes in humanitarian crises are high and the feelings intense. The team are technically extraordinarily competent in their field of expertise and fight their corners with knowledge and passion but the debate never descends into vindictive or personal attacks.
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Within the Rolling Stones, Ronnie Wood has often used his enthusiasm and the instinct of a veteran peace negotiator to mend rifts between Mick and Keith. He is happy, when required, to be the middleman and act as a telephone switchboard: ‘Once they get talking, they will hack it out.’
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When Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness and Ken Maginnis of the Ulster Unionist Party held a public debate, ‘it wasn’t great’, noted Gerry Adams. ‘Its significance was that it had happened at all.’ Perceptions had to be changed before practice. Together they formed a Giant’s Causeway of stepping stones to success.
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The Castle Buildings at Stormont, the venue for the Good Friday negotiations, were far from ideal: ugly, soulless, cramped, no nooks for chinwags. But it did not smack of an imperialist past, and no one had favoured status. In that sense it was the perfect place to negotiate for peace.
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One evening Gerry Adams quickly nipped out into the grounds of Stormont to take a leak. He came across a leading unionist who had had the same idea. Adams said, ‘This is the pee process.’ The unionist ‘had the grace to smile’. From such small human contacts is progress made.
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The family feeling at Ferrari should not be mistaken for a lack of edge. The desire to compete and win provided an inner steel that sharpened the team’s competitiveness and relentless pursuit of improvement. At its best it was a will to continue getting better, often the mark of champions.
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Master conflictMain Menu
Encourage creative abrasion. Contrary to the myth of the harmonious team, your goal is not to build a team without conflict, but to channel conflict effectively. You need to harness the energy and creativity that comes from the combination of push and pull between the diverse members of your team.
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Guard against groupthink and your team becoming too cohesive. The conditions for ‘groupthink’ are the presence of a strong leader, a cohesive group and strong external pressures. All three characteristics are positive determinants of a team’s success, but overplayed and unleavened by conflict they can push your team towards the dark side.
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Neutralize fears. Fight or flight is the first instinctive response to any potential threat of loss, whether actual or perceived. When your team is set against itself and divided by internal conflict you have first to defuse fears and reassure both sides before you can begin to move forward together.
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Be cautious about compromise. Splitting the difference has the merit of being a fast, fair resolution to conflict in your team. If your team meets in the middle too often, however, you run the risk of ending up with average answers rather than the most creative ones where everyone wins.
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Eyes on the prize.Clear, compelling common purpose ensures your team is committed to what really matters. Your objective should be to find a win-win-win solution, satisfying each side of the conflict and the team as a whole. Underlining common purpose ensures a focus on your shared goal and the need to work together.
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Don’t sweat the small stuff. You can take a lead and avoid arguments over the petty, the mundane and the immaterial. This is a waste of your time, resources and energy. Save your energy for the necessary vigorous discussions on the issues at the heart of your team’s core purpose.
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Keep things civil. The difference between a plan being branded ‘ill-conceived’ and a teammate being called ‘stupid’ is what separates teams that work from teams that don’t. Conflict about ideas are productive and conflict that is personal is destructive. Like a boxing referee, you should remind your team to keep the fight clean.
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Keep talking and, even better, keep listening. Balance how much you advocate your position with listening and inquiry, to better understand others’ perspectives. You need to actively encourage different opinions and allow them to be heard and understood, even if those opinions are uncomfortable and ones that you disagree with.
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Be fair and share. Few things divide faster than a leader who is constantly favouring a subset of the team. But while everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion, you should also ensure the facts are shared. You can often settle difficult discussions more quickly by letting the data speak for itself.
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Commitment not consensus. Consensus is powerful, but getting everyone to agree can take an age to achieve. To build commitment it can help if you clearly differentiate between discussion and decisions. You are more likely to get your team to disagree yet still commit if they feel they have been heard and understood.
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In mastering conflict, constantly reminding your team about your clear, compelling common purpose ensures your team is focused on what really matters: they keep their eyes on the prize. Your objective should be to find a win-win-win solution, satisfying each side of the conflict and the team as a whole. > Forge common purpose

Empathy is a powerful component in the leadership toolkit, a political and personal skill: the ability to see the perspective of other people, to identify, understand and appreciate the positions of different, differing parties, both in terms of substance and emotions (and above all to be seen to do so). > Lead the team

In situations where all participants – however talented, experienced or qualified – need to be involved and engaged, a sense of fairness in the way team members are treated is essential to ensure that all of them give their fullest commitment and effort. Favouritism and special treatment breeds resentment and cultivates mistrust. > Pursue a quest for the best

In situations of high pressure and high stakes, being explicit about how the team will interact, the choreography for collaboration, enables the team to have a shared understanding and limits risk. Agreeing the agenda for important meetings helps ensure individuals are focused on the right things, securing more effective collaboration. > Shape the environment for success

Simple human contact and manners based on mutual respect and empathy provide a foundation for teams to engage in more meaningful dialogue, especially if they are starting from a point of conflict. Within all teams, it is difficult to achieve the necessary cohesion, teamwork or team-building without dialogue between members. > Build cohesion

Napoleon Bonaparte warned that ‘the people to fear are not those who disagree with you, but those who disagree with you and are too cowardly to let you know’. Design review sessions so hierarchy does not stem the flow of feedback, with everyone actively involved, ensuring a breadth of perspectives. > Adapt or die
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NAVIGATION
About Khoi Tu
Blog
Contact

Insight
Forge Common Purpose
Lead the Team
Pursue a Quest for the Best
Shape the Environment for Success
Build Cohesion
Master Conflict
Adapt or Die

Inspiration
Pixar
Ryder Cup
SAS
British Red Cross
Rolling Stones
Northern Ireland Peace Process
Ferrari Formula One

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WHAT PEOPLE SAY
‘Products, companies and organisations that
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often look super, super simple to the outside
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We all work hard to get it right, even people
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For me, this is what this book is all about
– it shows what humans can do in different
scenarios, especially when the going gets
tough and there's a goal to be achieved.
Nice one Khoi.’
Jamie Oliver, Chef, Entrepreneur, Activist

‘Khoi Tu is the most visionary among
visionaries.’
Management Today

‘Khoi Tu has an inspirational mind, full of
curiosity, and a strong desire to find solutions
for issues that can seem to be unsolvable.’
‘Sir Jackie Stewart, three-time World Drivers’ Champion

‘This is a fantastic book. Do you want to
supercharge your team? Then ‘superteams’
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This book is destined to be a classic.’
George Kohlrieser, Professor of Leadership
at IMD.

‘Insightful… this book will be an essential in
any managers’ toolkit.’
Sir Nicholas Young, CEO of British Red Cross

‘Demystifies and choreographs what’s needed
to create high performance teams. Anybody
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should have a serious look at this book.’
Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries, INSEAD Global Leadership Centre

IN THE MEDIA