It’s the start of the season with a fair few new faces on board. There’s excitement and tension in the air, and general politeness…. which we know won’t last! The term ‘team’ is often mistakenly used, for example, to describe a group of people who sell a particular product referring to them as a ‘sales team’. However, a more accurate definition of team is a ‘group of people working collaboratively to achieve the common goal’, as a true team needs to be interdependent upon each other to succeed.
Understanding the Team Dynamic
A yacht could not successfully function without each of the departments; so it absolutely fulfils the criteria of being a single team. Yet when crew members are asked how many teams they have on their boat, a typical response would be “deck, bridge, interior, engineerin, and there’s the chefs too”. No doubt each department will be able to tell you what their purpose of existence is:- Bridge team – to keep everyone and the vessel safe, Engineering – to keep everything working, etc. The problems tend to occur when there is a lack of clarity of the common goal which binds all the crew and departments together. Instead, each department perceives its existence to be the most critical.
Identifying the common goal for a yacht is key. It needs to be agreed and meaningful – something that the whole crew buys into and feels passionate about. Impact Crew’s team ‘building’ events involve crew in the process of identifying goals for the yacht. Although going karting is fun, it won’t achieve the same outcome (not that it isn’t a valid form of team ‘bonding’ and equally needed!).
Diversity of Views
A common goal alone, however, is not enough to build a strong team. Although challenging to manage, Belbin (an expert in the field of work teams) proved that a successful team is also a diverse team, both in personality and the range of skills and experiences it brings. With diversity, you will also have differing opinions, so in addition to having a clear goal and purpose, following a philosophy of ‘disagree, agreeably’ or similar helps to manage the varying points of view. In addition to goals, it is also important to define the culture on board, whether you are still in the yard or have been in service for years. Drawing the crew together to agree, beyond the Captain’s standing orders, how they will live and work together, gives the crew a common language that defines the culture. For example, what is and is not acceptable behaviour.
Communication is Key
Communication is also vital for true team working, both within departments and across them. The daily brief and regular HoD meetings keep the information flowing. In addition, finding ways to draw information from the ground up will enable any issues to come to light early and be dealt with before they escalate. Communication includes feedback -both positive and developmental- and not just during the appraisal or at the end of the season, but at regular intervals. Leaders need feedback too. I recently overheard a captain say that asking the crew for feedback was a sign of weakness – I could not disagree more! A crew needs to know that their opinion matters and senior crew also need to know what they are doing well and where they can improve.
Conclusion
There are occasions when a yacht will naturally evolve and you can find yourself a part of the dream team. More often than not, it doesn’t happen; the crew bicker, cliques form, dynamics change, crew members leave and that smoothly oiled machine remains elusively out of reach.
A strong and united crew takes a great deal of investment, both in time and energy. If you’ve ever worked with the dream team, you know that the effort is more than worth it! Ask us about our fun and interactive team-building events, both on board and ashore, and let Impact Crew help you form your crew into a cohesive team.
Tel: +44 (0)1425 614 419
