Optimism in team dynamics

Team dynamics are a curious thing, and this should give us hope, especially when that team is seven pale stale males and a much younger woman in a hut on Stewart Island for a week. Most of us met for the first time on the trip, though a few had known each other a very long time.

] by Solis Norton

We males were an eclectic bunch. A lawyer, an economics professor, a slaughterman, a fish farmer, an events manager, a farm consultant, and a business coach. It was curiously like one of those semi-real television shows.

The young woman was more competent in this challenging environment than virtually all of us. She could comfortably sail, dive, hunt and cook at least as well as we could.

She was graceful with it too. Our professor was a towering intellect but moribund in any practical task. The rest of us sat at various angles within these

Over the week we went through those clichéd stages of forming, storming, norming, and performing.

We actually did reasonably well I thought, naturally finding an operating structure to suit our personalities and our challenges.

We recovered the boat that slipped its mooring during the night and from well over two miles away. We repaired the boat that conked out.

We accepted, even embraced the diversity of the group. We ate well and partied in moderation. We enjoyed truly diverse conversations that at various times challenged all of us. It was great.

Pale stale males cop a lot of flack these days. Our group smashed the stereo types. We were open about our limitations, open in complimenting the young woman on her skills, and we worked to support the team in any way we could.

When she and her dad the fish farmer left a couple of days early there was a deeply glum feeling amongst the rest of us. Not derogatory, not paternal, not even offended, just sad that we’d lost two highly capable friends and a wonderfully youthful energy that had invigor- ated the rest of us.

I’m accused of being a doom and gloomer in regard to the future and perhaps rightly so. But this experience highlighted human connection and interaction in such a positive light that I may have to change my mind.

This bunch of strangers, most pale stale and male, in a new and challenging environment actually banded together in a way that really got the business done and formed great relationships at the same time, at least for a week. We should find optimism in this.

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