Successful teamwork: what can you learn from F1 driver Max Verstappen?

Amazing! 18-year-old Dutch Formula One driver Max Verstappen performs like a champion already. Some experts even dare to compare him with legends like Senna and Schumacher. You might expect that so much credit would lead to arrogance. On the contrary, he continuously proofs that successful teamwork makes a huge difference. He shares success when winning and takes responsibility when there is an underperformance. We saw that when winning the Spanish Grand Prix. And even after a disastrous weekend ending with a crash in Monaco we heard Max on the on-board radio speaking out his disappointment for the team that he didn’t execute his task as expected. Last weekend in the Belgium Grand Prix he stood out again being the youngest driver ever to start from the front row while excelling after an unfortunate start.

The power of teamwork 

Last week I was at a production plant where we were asked to help to improve the cooperation between engineering/maintenance and production. They felt they did not operate as a team and that this influenced their operational performance negatively. We often find engineering/maintenance and production acting independently with different success parameters. Still every time it amazes me how poor internal relations and team bonding are as well as the adherence of maintenance schedules, let alone timely planning & execution of engineering/maintenance requests. As a result we see more downtime than ever intended, poor quality products and finally a shorter time between failures and longer time between repairs on manufacturing lines on average. I reckon it will not surprise you that the challenge was how to improve this situation and how to create better teamwork.

Missing link

What is the relevance to Formula One, I hear you ask. Well, imagine a pits stop with only three tyres, because the budget didn’t provide to buy four. Imagine the driver only telling his engineers that his car is “not feeling good” instead of giving full details. Even being an outsider, probably everybody understands the effect and impact of these things. And these very basic situations are similar to the relationship between engineering/maintenance and production. But what is the missing link?

Four elements

So what is the shared desired outcome for production and engineering/maintenance for your company? Did you set a realistic and unambiguous goal? What is the joint picture of success versus the truth of the situation? We know that for a lesser team like Manor Racing it is not realistic to set ambitious goals. They will probably aim to grow in their performance on the longer term.

The second element is what we call clear and no overlapping responsibilities. Everybody knows what is expected and takes responsibility. Do you have clear responsibilities and operating rules as part of the way you work together? Does the team foster a working environment where people can be open to each other about their expectations without breaking down team spirit and moral? Do people communicate when they make or see mistakes? Does everyone embrace the ability, willingness and courage to change attitudes and behaviours to achieve desired outcomes?

The third element is trust. Trust in each other that all the actions and activities are contributing to the shared desired outcome. Trust that everybody takes and owns their responsibility at a personal and team level. Is everyone taking action consistent with your desired outcome (personal accountability)? And did you create a working environment where people can count on each other to take actions consistent with agreed desired outcomes (team accountability)? If you ever wondered, why does a whole team want to let one guy win? this is why.

First things first

If you identify a malfunction in your teamwork you probably have to work on at least one of these three elements. The fourth element -competences and skills of individual people- will only come if the first three are optimized. Unfortunately, we often see that this is a favourite management element. Obviously you need qualified people. However, if people work without a shared desired outcome, clear unambiguous responsibilities and there is not enough trust, even the best teams will fail and underperform. And then productivity is leaking under your feet as oil under an engine leading to underperformance and crashes almost every race. As they say in Formula One, to finish first, you first have to finish.

I wish you the best of luck in lining up your teams diligently working together as one team towards shared desire outcomes and keep inspired by the performance of my fellow Dutchman Max Verstappen.

Jan Cees Besemer is Partner at R&G Global Consultants in The Netherlands

Change management