How My Old Dog Taught Me a New Trick about Team Performance

user Mark Teitell
calendar

Who doesn’t like a good dog story? This is also a leadership lesson that resonated strongly for me once I recognized it

I live in a relaxed suburb and have a well-behaved golden retriever, Toby, so on neighborhood walks he’s off-leash. For years, that meant he’d lag as much as 100 feet behind and then gallop past me to some distance up ahead, flashing a gleeful grin as he did, while I walked at a steady pace. But now he’s twelve and over the last year, his M.O. has become a steady trudge, always about 25 feet back. This means that I need to periodically stop, turn and exhort him to “come on, Toby” just to maintain that interval.

I figured brisk walking was good for him and that my setting the pace this way kept him moving. But it was a lot less fun, and during walks, I started checking my watch and thinking impatiently of what I needed to do when the walk was done.

Then recently I wondered…if I slow down a little, could we walk directly alongside each other and get back to the house at the same time anyway, but have the walk be much nicer for both of us? I had some concern this would encourage him to walk even slower, but I decided to try it.

Here’s what actually happened. When I slowed to let him catch up, he was energized and started into a more youthful trot. I even had to accelerate a bit to keep walking abreast. We were moving faster than my original pace but with Toby now about a half body-length ahead instead of 25 feet behind. Since this experiment, we’ve been on multiple walks and this practice works every time.

Somewhat like the “learned helplessness” psychology researchers have observed, I guess he’d become resigned to lagging and he saw the 25-foot gap as something not worth trying to close. But when I give him a reasonable chance to stay alongside me, some canine mix of enthusiasm, dignity, and duty makes him walk faster while also seeming happier (and I’m happier too).

After a few times of walking in our new way, it struck me that there’s a powerful lesson for leaders of organizations in this human-dog story. Ambitious leaders who face complex challenges are almost sure to feel some on their team are lagging – whether it’s on strategizing, mobilizing to execute, or being nimble to make changes. They often assume this trade-off: “I can be more inclusive and it will help engagement and team cohesion…but at the critical cost of speed.”

My experiment with Toby suggests there’s not a zero-sum game between speed and inclusiveness. In fact, when operating at an increasing scale in pursuit of non-immediate goals, I think there’s a strong correlation between the two. Not to mention that when you need to keep multiple efforts coordinated, it’s not just “lags” that you have to worry about, but also “disconnects” that are problematic.

Many years ago, during my time in the wireless industry, I sought regulatory approval for a mobile network cell site in a small town in Maine. On one of my visits, I recall the mayor advising me, “Sometimes you have to go slow to go fast.”

Sometimes you have to go slow to go fast. After all, when you lead a team you’re trying to capitalize on the energies and capabilities of a large group of people, repeatedly – not just win a one-time race on your own.

So as a leader of people, one definition of your job is to minimize the aggregate impact of the lags and disconnects that happen within your team and among teams throughout the company. Here’s a list of places you might consider “going slower to go faster.”

  • Start by asking yourself, “What’s my contribution?” in areas where you feel the team is showing uneven rates of running with things or suffering from disconnected activity. Ask for honest feedback from your colleagues and stakeholders and make a plan for how to courageously make use of it.
  • Invest time fostering team connectedness, trust, and ability to have effective dialogues on difficult topics. This isn’t just “soft stuff.” If you tap your own experience and logic you’ll likely see that team cohesion directly impacts your ability to move fast on things like strategy and planning. Want data? This study found teams with more trust, transparency, and mutual respect are 60% more likely to achieve more, faster.
  • Take time to explicitly discuss the strategic views that guide the choices you make. By crystalizing what you hold to be true about future customer needs, competition, technology, and the environment, you’ll enable greater alignment…create self-reinforcing coordination across functions…and empower all team members to do their best work.
  • Lean in more to identifying and communicating purpose, values, and operating principles. This helps your team find motivation and build resilience. That is, it helps people find their “sustainable trot” to cover the most ground over the long term.

Toby’s been my best friend for twelve years, and I hope we have as much time left together as possible. But he’s not getting any faster, so this walking trick I’ve developed just gets us back to medium pace. Among human teams, though, the upside to “going slow to go fast” isn’t capped this way. As you increasingly prioritize clarity and alignment (and the relationship depth needed to achieve them), you’ll find that fewer lags and disconnects develop to begin with. This puts you into the “bonus” territory of moving fast and well at the same time – the first time – and that’s what the highest-performing teams look like.

Back to TriumIQ

Let’s Talk

Contact Us

Trium IQ

Creative confidence, design thinking, and synergies with IDEO: meet Trium’s new partner, Owen Rogers

New Trium Partner, Owen Rogers, talks about his decision to join the firm and his signature style,…

Read

It’s Your Weaknesses, Not Strengths, That Make You A Good Coach And Leader

One of the core adages in any coaching or advisory work is simply that “no one will…

Read

A Time to Serve

To serve when you yourself are in need is the ultimate act of leadership. The new year…

Read

VIDEO | UiPath CFO Ashim Gupta Reflects on Trium Coaching Sessions

UiPath CFO Ashim Gupta shares how Trium’s personalized coaching taught him to better connect with himself, connect with others, and meet challenges in a more mature and measured way.

Watch

The Reset Moment: How Downturns Create the Dynamics for Innovation and Transformation

We tend to think of economic cycles as peaks and troughs of good times and bad —…

Read

Why CEO Storytelling Matters Today More Than Ever

What connects the animal scenes painted on cave walls in France 30,000 years ago, the 4000-year-old Epic…

Read

Perspective and Choice

From the stillness of perspective, you get to choose the quality of your experience. It is the…

Read

Three Ways to Embrace Team Appreciation

For leaders who want to make appreciation a year-round habit, this season of gratitude offers us a…

Read

What Story Are You Telling?

Leaders who choose to see uncertainty as an opportunity will be leaders who preside over businesses that…

Read

The Power of Proximity: Why “Up Close and Personal” is The Best Leadership Strategy In Complicated Times

The Power of Proximity is not about whether we’re in the office. It has nothing to do…

Read

Five Tips to Foster a Culture of Appreciation

When’s the last time you openly celebrated the achievements of a team member? A week ago? A…

Read

Be a Step-Down Leader: A Radical, New Paradigm for Leading in Anxious Times

Your primary job as a leader – in your family, community, or career – is to lower…

Read

VIDEO | Lightspeed Venture Partners Partner, Arif Janmohamed: Trium’s Expertise Applied to Venture Capital Firms

Lightspeed Venture Partners Partner Arif Janmohamed shares how Trium applies its unique expertise to Venture Capital firms.

Watch

VIDEO | MX Interim CEO & President, Shane Evans: Coaching through a Leadership Transition

MX Interim Chief Executive Officer and President Shane Evans shares the impact of Trium’s coaching through his transition to CEO of the company.

Watch

VIDEO | Zoom COO, Aparna Bawa: Advice to Leaders Considering Engaging a Coach

Zoom Chief Operating Officer Aparna Bawa shares her advice for leaders considering engaging a coach to support their development.

Watch