A healthy team: the Round Table of equal partners

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.

King Arthur: how to stay healthy and successful

Later on, King Arthur married Guinevere, and they lived happily ever after. Eh, wait a minute. Unfortunately for King Arthur, things turned out slightly different. On the one hand, the legend of King Arthur tells us a lot about how to build successful teams; on the other hand, it also tells us how you can still ruin it all.

King Arthur: Excalibur, the central instrument

The King’s sword was the instrument and symbol of King Arthur during the first 100 days of his reign. It was his loyal companion in reuniting the British kingdoms and defeating the plundering hordes of the Saxons, Picts and Irish.

King Arthur: the first 100 days

A splendid education, training and a correct installment are an excellent start. It does not guarantee, however, that the new team leader will automatically gain the much needed natural authority from his team members...

King Arthur: inauguration as a team leader

Before Arthur was crowned High King at the age of 25, he had been a warlord in the service of the King for 7 years. In his youth, he already had a solid training in the arts of fighting. At the same time, he had immersed himself in the philosophy of various Roman writers. When he learned the hardships of the reality of being a soldier, Arthur quickly developed new important competences. Competences such as: strategic thinking, decision making, being an example for his team, courageously fighting in the forefront, encouraging, inspiring and comforting his men and women (indeed, the Celtic women were often also part of the fighting force). So, before he was crowned High King, he had already become quite a leader.

When Uther Pendragon died, his succession had not been arranged. Arthur was his son, yet nobody knew that (except, of course, for Arthur’s closest supporters, like Merlin and Lucius the Bishop of Glastonbury). The secret of the ‘baby Arthur’ had also been so well kept in order to protect the young Arthur from the other competing Celtic kings. And indeed, Arthur had been kept a secret. Now it turned into a little problem though. Nobody was just going to take Merlin and Lucius’s word for it, no matter how important and influential their voice was.

King Arthur: baby, boy, man

Arthur was born as the son of King Uther Pendragon and Lady Igraine. He was the grandson of Constantine II, one of the last Roman Brits, who had also been a man of unity. Constantine II, just like Arthur later on, had spent his life protecting the Brits from the murderous hordes of the Saxons, for the Saxons wanted nothing more than to submit the whole of England to their barbaric and ruthless iron fist.

Immediately after Arthur’s birth, Merlin, a druid, wise prophet and counsellor of King Uther, took him under his protective wing. He made sure that Arthur got an excellent education, far away from the allurements, intrigues and dangers of the life at court. Ector, a simple but just and noble knight, took Arthur in. Ector was a true Celt, and his forefathers had ruled over parts of England since far before Christ. He was married to Livinia, a wise woman with Roman heritage. They lived near Bath, far away from Londinium, in a beautiful rural setting. 

King Arthur: the inspiring team leader

For over 1500 years, the story of King Arthur has been the inspiration of tales, songs, poems, paintings and dreams. He was a king who reunited the torn England of the 5th century AD. A king who introduced an absolutely new type of society. A king who brought 150 knights to sit down at 1 Round Table, to create – together – a home for all: Camelot. And a king who revived virtues like trust, integrity, discipline and wisdom.

Every culture its own kind of team?

During the past two decades quite some research about the secrets of successful team-building has published. Naturally, it requires something slightly different for a team in France to become healthy and successful on the long-run than it does for a team in the Netherlands, or in Germany, or in South Africa, or in Singapore. Just as it makes a difference if it is a team in a business-environment, a hospital, the government, sports, or a NGO. But it does not stop there. It takes something else for a team to become successful and healthy on the long-run today, as it did 10 years ago. The team-members all require something different too, especially as they are more and more often part of different generations. Many teams nowadays consist out of ‘Baby Boomers’ (55-70 years) as well as individuals that are part of Generation Y (20-35).

Can only farmers be happy?

In the Netherlands there are about 900000 employees (circa 12% of the Dutch workforce) that suffer from burn-out related symptoms. On average these people use up 189 days of sick-leave each year. That sums up to about 9 months of absenteeism, due to various forms of stress at work. The lion’s share of these problems are caused by relational problems, such as problems with:

• Yourself
• Your boss
• Your colleagues
• Your customers

Why a team?

Instinctively two very opposite emotions pop up when I think about teams. On the one hand it makes me think of a club of friends, a home, fellowship, companionship, a team that knows how to get challenging jobs done. On the other hand it raises feelings like irritation, powerlessness, bother and frustration. How come a team can be both heaven on earth as well as a true hell?

The 5 secrets of trust

Do you recognize this feeling: we are a strong team, yet there is still something missing, and things are not running smoothly. Developing a strong team is an art in itself. Usually the team-members start off with enthusiasm. Slowly that initial energy flows away though. But why?

The following overview of the various phases of team-development shows that this is actually absolutely normal, and part of the normal process towards becoming a strong team...

6 myths about teambuilding

Do you recognize this feeling: I have heard about this idea rather often, therefore it must contain certain elements of truth. This is how quite some myths have established themselves in the management world. For instance, ‘who says that self-managing teams are that effective in the Dutch context?

Here some of the most well-known myths about teams and effectiveness.