The genesis of this book
A psychology student asked her mentor, the head of a research laboratory, to reveal the secret to truly meaningful collaboration and high performance in a team environment.
The mentor liked the question and respected the student's keen and inquiring mind, so he took her to a room where an experiment was in progress. The subjects of the experiment sat around a large round table, on which was a huge bowl containing a selection of healthy and appetising food. Exquisite aromas filled the room and the food looked so tempting the student's mouth watered.
However, the people appeared miserable and uncomfortable. Each of them held a spoon with an extremely long handle, and while they could reach into the bowl and take a portion of food, the handle was much longer than their arms, preventing them from getting the spoons into their mouths. The student watched in amazement for a while before the mentor suggested they move on.
The mentor took the student to another room. The setting was the same as that in the first room — people were seated around a large round table containing a bowl of delicious, abundant foodstuffs, with the same long-handled spoons. The difference was that the people in this room were laughing and talking, enjoying each other's company and relishing the food before them in an atmosphere of conviviality.
It took the student just a moment to comprehend the difference. Every so often a person at the table would reach forward and scoop up a morsel of food before offering it to someone else. Occasionally someone asked another to feed them with something they found particularly tasty.
‘I don't understand', said the student. ‘Why has the other group not adopted the same practice?'
The mentor smiled. ‘It's very simple', he replied. ‘The people in this room learned very quickly how to cooperate with one another. In contrast, the people in the other room are trying to look after themselves — their mindset is still one of personal gratification and self-preservation.'
When individuals in groups, teams or within organisations seek to nourish only themselves, everyone goes hungry. But when they look after their fellow team members and colleagues, they discover a myriad clever ways in which to nourish one another, and the outcome is a healthier and happier whole.
This reinforces what I have learned over many years of working with high-performing teams in complex and high-value collaborative projects. My experiences in these exciting environments became the genesis of my research — and the foundation for this book.
The power of relationships is like an iceberg in relation to their impact on an organisation's or team's endeavours. There is extraordinary capacity and untapped potential beyond what is immediately visible and obvious. Here are some examples.
The National Museum of Australia is a record of the land, nation and people of Australia. Built on the Acton Peninsula in the centre of Canberra in 2000, it is also a unique achievement in terms of its architecture and construction. The museum was the world's first project alliance in building construction, and as such is the embodiment of what can be achieved through working relationships based on mutual respect, trust and integrity. The Wandoo Offshore Oil Platform — Australia's first project alliance, in 1999 — is another outstanding example.
Leadership and effective team relationships are the keys to a successful project alliance, which is a procurement method based on selecting participants based on fit rather than tender price. It has been one of the most innovative and successful methods for delivering large and complex high-value capital projects, such as motorways, bridges, tunnels, dams, pipelines, railways, submarines, airports, public buildings and shopping malls. In essence, a project alliance is a superlative example of a high-performing team committed to achieving results that are often referred to as ‘ground-breaking', ‘extraordinary outcomes' or ‘breakthroughs'.
The total value of project alliances in the Australian road, rail and water sectors between 2004 and 2009 was $32 billion. This represented 29 per cent of the nation's total infrastructure spend of $110 billion.1 At that time, Australia was recognised as the world leader in such projects,2 which were described as the embodiment of collective responsibility, innovation, high performance and authentic leadership for the twenty-first century.3
But project alliances have their own challenges. The project team — the project owner and its partners — must be a high-performing collective. A key requirement is to develop and sustain an ‘open book' and collaborative approach with a ‘no blame' culture. This is easier said than done and does not come naturally. The team must develop its own identity, sense of purpose, common goals and culture. This can be challenging because team members come from different organisational cultures in the government and private sectors, and must unite and work quickly to avoid project delays. This is when the magic of collaborative relationships becomes critical to success.
Highly effective and successful teams arise when each member thrives in relationships with others, enabling them to reach unusual levels of collaboration and achieve unprecedented results. The catalyst is leadership. I see the connection to my own experience; I know the amazing power leadership and relationships have to change peoples' lives — as they have changed mine.
All for one, and one for all
The famous mantra of the Three Musketeers hits the nail on the head, and perhaps that's why their story has held people in its thrall through the ages. It strikes at the heart of something we all know instinctively to be true and is a powerful model when put to use. It also encapsulates perfectly what it takes to form and sustain a project alliance — and for that matter any high-performance team.
Highly effective and successful teams arise when each member thrives in relationships with others
When all members of an alliance support its individual members, and each one pledges to support the alliance, that alliance can move mountains. Highly successful teams are formed by individuals who enjoy autonomy, possess unique knowledge and skills, are responsible and interdependent, and who can work confidently together to pursue the same goals and objectives. They are accountable to each other and their stakeholders, while each having unique responsibilities. Problems become everyone's problems. There is no blaming, and team members support each other. Their sense of identity is always aligned to the collective, with their position and point of view representing the alliance, not an individual's stand. As a result, the team's efforts are greater than the sum of its single members. This is known as ‘synergy'; it characterises truly high-performing teams and is what makes an alliance uniquely powerful and potent.
One of the most high-profile project alliances I worked on was the Air Warfare Destroyer Alliance project in 2008, valued at $8 billion, the most significant shipbuilding project in Australia's history. The aim was to deliver three Hobart-class air warfare destroyers to the Royal Australian Navy between 2015 and 2017. I helped the senior leadership team with its alignment and development during the formation of the alliance. I also helped other teams across the alliance build leadership capabilities and culture, which included supporting and coaching the various teams while addressing the inevitable problems, ...
