Teamwork Reimagined | Kevin Cahill | TEDxSunValley

on April 13th 1970 these chilling words echoed around the world Houston we've had a problem the Apollo 13 mission moved from one of a moon landing to a survival crisis it was one that captivated the world had us glued to the news as we hoped and prayed that NASA and the astronauts would find an answer the innovative solution that enabled those three brave men to return to their families into this earth is a testament to teamwork and the laser focused on aim but not just any teamwork and not just did he aim something that we oftentimes only see in times of crisis something that is different and unique and it's something that I want to share with you today because an understanding and application of it brings about benefits that we can all use in work with have you ever heard the saying a crisis brings out the best in us we rise to the occasion in times of crisis history's littered with such examples even recently hurricanes Irma and Harvey it was about people helping people it was about doing something for the common good it was about making a difference it wasn't about personal gain yes there were some people who took advantage of the situation but for the most part it was not about personal gain and what it enabled us to do is to break down barriers and divides between us ones that are religious ethnic political party gender age wealth and what it did was it enabled us to work together think together act together learn together it's what we call we thinking not me we thinking and I don't know about you but I had a tear in my eye when I watched what happened during those hurricanes and many people I talked to you felt the same way and often wonder is it just about that or it's about understanding what we could be and what we could do because as soon as the crisis is over what happens we return to our work our families our nonprofits our businesses and we ignore those intrinsic teamwork concepts and thinking that used we use to get through the crisis and instead we reach around and we pull back and we use these extrinsic thinking and approaches things like incentives bonuses performance appraisals pay for performance rating and ranking all of those things raise those barriers and bring those divides back between us if we could just reimagine this and think about that we thinking imagine the possibilities and this resonates deeply with me and ties into a personal and powerful story one that began nine years before I was born I never knew about until I was 20 years old and it's why I am here today it's about a country in crisis and it was Japan in 1950 after World War two the country was in ashes their economy their industrial base had been devastated people were hungry they didn't have jobs and the country had no natural resources and they asked a 50 year old American if he could come in and help do you have some ideas he said yes I have some ideas but you're gonna have to do things differently we can't do it the prevailing approach take prevailing approach you're going to have to think differently you're gonna have to have a constancy of purpose that you carry these ideas beyond the crisis subsiding and they said we'll do it what do we need to do he said you have to attend my seminars workshops and conferences and you have to be religious about it 80% of the business leaders of Japan attended his events in the 1950s and he told him when they asked how many years is it gonna take to rebuild four years he was wrong it only took three years and by 1960 the Emperor of Japan had given him credit for what they call the Japanese economic miracle that man's name was dr. W Edwards Deming and I'm privileged and honored to be his grandson and to help carry on the legacy that he created when he formed a non-profit at the end of his life and one of the things that I learned from him and there were many was an awareness that when you look at a crisis and it doesn't matter whether it's a space mission or a hurricane or a country it doesn't matter there are certain things that are in common that we thinking that intrinsic thinking but they're anchored by something else that's really critical and that anchor is an aim a mission a clear understanding something that we can all gather around Japan what was the aim save a country three words Apollo 13 bring them back alive hurricanes her arm Harvey and Irma save lives and help rebuild we think it's simple but in our everyday lives it always it's not always that that's the case I remember in the late 90s when I started a company with my partner and we were all working hard and giving our best effort I'm doctor dummy's grandson so I knew was important to have a name that was clear to everybody so we gathered around the tables about a dozen of us at the time and we said what's everybody working hard and giving their best efforts towards they'll smile they said Kevin towards the aim of course I said fantastic let's write it down they all wrote it down handed a ten and guess what every single one of them had a different understanding of the aim can you imagine the frustration the wasted effort the time the energy the money that went towards them all working towards a different aim or startup every second and every penny makes a difference so here's what I'd ask you to do go back to your families go back to your businesses go back to your stakeholders do the same thing ask them what is the aim of the organization my colleagues and I have been all over the world and we have never yet seen a group have a complete understanding of the aim it gives you an opportunity to work together come together collaborate to develop that aim and the results and the impact are noticeable and almost immediate another thing that I learned from my grandfather was that we thinking we thinking in the benefit that it brings it reduces waste it reduces frustration you start to think wait a second it's worth actually spending some time to save some time down the road it's worth spending money right now to save money down the road and it makes a difference let's take a look at Japan save a country can you imagine if Toyota had just focused on the Toyota Production system that's all they cared about let's make that as a fresh efficient and effective and productive as possible and not worried about the rest of the country what good does it do if the ports are in disrepair if there's no infrastructure to get you to the materials to to Toyota city and then even if they could they can't get it back out and ship it so what they had to do is they had to think that I am willing to share resources time people energy and effort to help rebuild the country to provide guidance yes they have to compete absolutely but they understood that they had to collaborate too and they did and they had that constancy and they did it beyond the crisis Society and the difference was extraordinary think about Apollo 13 can you imagine and you've all seen the pictures of everybody gathering around coming up with a solution they got those astronauts back can you imagine if instead they have said we're gonna divide you into teams of 10 and we're gonna give a bonus an incentive to the team let's say a million dollars a person that can come up with the answer to get these astronauts back alive would those teams have shared ideas and answers between each other would they have shared resources you would hope so because lives were on the line but in our everyday lives we don't do that we don't share resources between teams in hurricane Harvey how many of you have heard of gentleman named mattress Mac amazing story Jim mcinvale the day the hurricane hit he has the largest furniture stores in all of Texas and he has a number of him in Houston and he said come to my stores the doors are open if you can get here safely you can sleep on my bed you can eat on my tables we will feed you we will provide water and there's no restrictions and they came they were wet they were cold they were hungry they were muddy they brought their pets and they brought their kids and the pictures are extraordinary they were lying on his beds eating at the tables he said if you cannot get here here's my cell phone number our text number call me personally if we can safely get there we will send out our trucks to bring you back it was incredible that is what we call we thinking Jim studied under my grandfather for many many years he spoke at many of his conferences and seminars and I know if my grandfather was alive or even from heaven he's smiling right now saying Jim I am awfully proud of what you do and how you do it because this is not the first time Jim's done that he's done it before so what we have is we have a road map and we have a couple of different paths we can go down one of those paths is to continue down that me thinking the extrinsic thinking the one that brings up those divides between us that reduces collaboration between us the other option is that we thinking combined with an understanding of that anchor the aim and by what method can we achieve that aim that's realistic that we all get around and we all get behind because if we do that we don't just have to look at something that's unique in times of crisis we don't just have to think about that fleeting moment of what we could be and what we could do the opportunities are there and that reimagined teamwork is something that my grandfather said over and over and was a constant theme in his life will lead to greater joy in life and in work and what could be better thank you you

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 113,371

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Business, Cooperation, Ideas, Innovation, Leadership, Learning, Nonprofit, Philosophy

Id: UwsMogSQmYI

Length: 13min 54sec (834 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 06 2017