Hello there, Fans of Plans! Are you also fans of watching golf? For those of you who are, you’ll probably have been following with avid interest the 2023 Ryder Cup. 

Now, for those non-golfers, the Ryder Cup is a competition where a team of the best golfers in Europe are pitted against the cream of the crop from the USA. It’s quite the sporting feast. But what makes this event really special is these men, who normally are in competition with each other, have to come together and play as a team.

There are some great techniques employed by the people behind the teams, and they range from having a team uniform, to learning more about each other, and spending time in each other’s company off the golf course. I’m sure the sport psychologists and the whole team work hard to get their teams into this incredible unified shape.  

Does this sound familiar to you in your workplace? Well, maybe not having sports psychologists, but I hope the rest does. We all need to have that shared identity for teamwork to be successful (this could be in simple ways, say a uniform, or a shared project), but we also need to be mindful of our individuality and roles within the team. The acknowledgement of respect for each other’s skills and achievements can help to get a team off on the right foot. Making time to get to know your colleagues is key to success. 

It’s not always easy to come together as a team. It needs to start in the right way with clearly defined goals and direction – if we haven’t got these agreed foundations, then how can we expect to be working toward the same target? 

We also need to understand there can be more than one way to reach the goal we are after. We all have different ways of working and preferred styles. We need to be respectful of this and listen to everyone’s viewpoints to work out what is going to be most effective for the team. 

So, Fans of Plans – think with team mentality, but think about the strengths of your individuals and how they can complement each other.