Recipe for Success
We recently saw this poster showing the recipe for success. We totally, agree about ALL those ingredients. When we think about Tree Carving though, we’d like to add a few more. Talent is one for sure! Studying and technical know-how would be another (remember this blog about the golden ratio?). We would also love to add teachability, humility, and – our focus for today – teamwork and character.
On Being A Team
Although an art and business like Tree Carving could seem like a one-person operation, the reality is far from it. Whether it be accounts, social media, organising a calendar, editing videos, providing equipment, maintaining chainsaws, bringing creative ideas for new projects, promotion, helping create a commission, or simply moving equipment and timber, Tree Carving wouldn’t be what it is without a team.
We like thinking of it as being like the human body. Every person represents a different part, with a different role to play. Each part (person) is uniquely created to fulfill that role best. That means we respect that person, and honour what they bring. I mean come on, feet are great for getting us places, but have you tried using them to type? And while the heart is GREAT for pumping blood round the body, it wouldn’t be great at filtering that blood the way the kidneys do! That sense of team isn’t just our permanent employees either. We also think of our affiliates, sponsors and people we contract specific jobs out to as being part of our team – and hope they feel that way too!
Teamwork Moments
We’ll talk a bit more further into the blog about how we develop our sense of teamwork and character. For now though, we thought we would relive some of our more obvious examples of teamwork.
Can you imagine moving this much dragon (read more about this dragon throne here) without being able to effectively communicate with others? Or if you couldn’t trust the others to fulfill their role? Which reminds us! For us, teamwork isn’t just about atmosphere, efficiency and efficacy. When it comes to chainsaws, scaffolding and large sculptures, it’s also what helps keep us safe!
Building Teamwork and Character
As teamwork and character are so important to us we are intentional about creating opportunities to grow in both. We do this through our everyday choices, but also through specific, focused times of personal development and team building.
One example of this is that recently Simon and Dan took part in a 4MUK weekend. The weekend is called ‘XCC‘ or ‘Extreme Character Challenge’, and it is definitely an appropriate name!
The XCC
The XCC is an active and challenging endurance event for men, out in the wild. For 72 hours men face significant physical challenges, deep camaraderie and profound moments of moral and spiritual input. It’s a time to find perspective, build meaningful connection and become a support network to each other. The men honestly evaluate their struggles and successes and examine how to move forward to live and experience life at its fullest.
Not only did Simon and Dan survive the Welsh Autumn weather, but they can both testify to what an amazing weekend it was. Both would say that it changed them in positive ways, and will strengthen and improve their ability to work as a team. Thank you to Stihl for providing some goodies from their awesome clothing range to help keep them warm and dry!
More Than Just A Weekend
Weekends like this are great. They help develop trust, get us out of our routines, and give us a place to share safely, openly and honestly so we can help each other take steps to self improvement. BUT! They obviously aren’t be the only things that contribute to us working effectively as a team.
Later this year, Simon will be leading a team building weekend for Stihl employees. Putting together a week of teaching and exercises like that, means needing to be clear on what it is that facilitates good teamwork. As we’re reflecting on that, we thought we would share some of our pointers and practices with you.
Our Top Tips!
WELCOME & ACCEPTANCE:
We mentioned that we like to embrace everyone we work with as part of the team. For us, that means making room for them and all their skills, knowledge and personality. It means accepting them as they are, embraching our similarities and honouring our differences. Liz in particular is great at this, and a big part in creating a sense of family or team.
COMMUNICATION & VULNERABILITY:
We value honesty and integrity. And we value being able to admit to our weaknesses and struggles and being able to ask others. It’s important to communicate our needs to each other. That might be something simple like needing a specific document, or somebody to take the weight of a sculpture in a specific place. It might also be something harder like needing time off or a quiet chat.
It’s also super important to feel safe to ASK! Especially if there’s something we don’t understand or needs clarification for us to do it safely.We also want to celebrate the good stuff. Amazing how much difference it can make to somebody to just communicate that something they did well is appreciated!
CONFRONT CHALLENGES AND DIFFICULTIES
Another tough one! We find our challenges come in all shapes and sizes. There are practical challenges like trying to figure out how to assemble and disassemble giant sculptures. We also have our own personal and relational bumps that come up. It isn’t easy, but making sure we acknowledge and own them and (see the two points above) face them TOGETHER is a big part of being a team that works well together.
EMBRACE THE PROCESS
Our own character determines how well we are able to be a team player, and growing that takes time. Good teamwork is also something that comes through consistent work and practice. Neither of them are quick things, so we also need to embrace the idea of being in process. It can be difficult in a world of quick answers and solutions. Being willing to allow time and ‘baby steps’ and staying committed to that journey is a big part of good teamwork though.
FORGIVE!
Our final one is perhaps the biggest part of good teamwork. We are all human. That means we all have our strengths and weaknesses, our good days and our bad days. Being quick to apologise and quick to forgive isn’t easy, but makes for much better relationships, a happier and more focused work place, and sets the stage for some great teamwork.
We love our Tree Carving team, no matter their role. It’s a journey, and we know we don’t do team work perfectly, but we definitely know how important it is, and work towards it. We hope you’ve enjoyed finding out a bit more about how we’re committed to the process, and maybe even picked up some pointers for your own teams.
What are some of your top tips for enabling good team work? Comment below and let us know!