A healthy
team (unsurprisingly) consists of a healthy team leader and a group of healthy
team members. During the next 3 chapters, we will discuss 3 more lessons on
teambuilding that the legend of King Arthur presents us. Unlike the previous
ones, these 3 lessons focus more on the team, instead of on the team leader.
Let us
start with the obvious one: the Round Table!
When Arthur
was born, England was strongly divided into numerous little kingdoms, ruled by
autocratic kings. Some ruled as wise kings, others as egoistic despots. A
situation that is not very unlike the situation within current multinationals.
Many of the national and regional directors also operate in a way that is
foremost beneficial to themselves, or at least their part of the company. King
Arthur was the High King, and in that capacity, it was his responsibility to
maintain a balance between the national interest (the interest of all the
Brits) and all the various interests of the different little kingdoms and their
knights and kings.
By creating
the ‘Round Table’ with 150 seats, he instantly made a couple of clear points:
- All members of the Round Table were each other’s equals, and they all had an equal voice in the kingdom.
- All knights and kings kept their sovereignty on matters that solely concerned them and their own little kingdom.
- There were no first-, second- or third-grade team members.
- As the High King, Arthur had a special chair, which symbolized that he was primes inter pares (the chair was in no means a splendorous throne, and Arthur was seated, just like all others, at the Round Table).
- All Knights of the Round Table (including King Arthur) had to put their swords in front of them. Laying them down on the table symbolized handing over their individual power and authority to the great collective.
In short,
the Round Table stood for:
- Unity
- Equality
- Honour and dignity
- Commitment
- Room for everybody’s needs
In order to
become a member of the Round Table, you had to swear an oath to the High King,
to each other, to the communal values and mission. As a token of being a member
of the Round Table, they got a ring. All the knights and kings of the Round
Table had such a ring. It was a symbol of their oath and their ambassadorship
of Camelot, the Round Table and the whole of England.
In his book
‘Tipping Point’, Malcolm Gladwell describes certain conditions that are needed
in order for a ‘social economical epidemic’ to influence an entire nation. One
of these conditions is what he calls the ‘150 persons group’. Numerous examples
throughout time and throughout various cultures have shown that a group of 150
equal people has the ideal size to make an extraordinary impact on a company,
organization, market or even society. 150 people still experience each other as
one big family (or tribe), and everyone is still able to find their unique
place within the group. An interesting observation (perhaps you remember): the
successful multinational Gore and all its subsidiaries also consist of units of
max 150 employees…
What is
this to you? Some questions that might raise suggestions:
- How is your meeting room arranged? Do you have a Round Table, or does everything focus on the ‘boss’?
- Do you listen to the opinions of all your team members, or just to those of your ‘best pals’ within the team?
- Do all the team members feel that they contribute in a meaningful way to the team?
- To what extend do you show appreciation?
- How could you ‘swear’ loyalty to each other, your values and mission?
- Is there a ring, or some other symbol, that represents your commitment to the team?
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