Teamwork - How is yours?

So one of the things I love to do is ride my bike, pedal power!  I commute, I do triathlons, mountain biking, bike racing, etc.  On Sunday, I participated in a road race and in my category there were about 70 of us in total that started.  The main pack of us were all together until we got to the base of this long nasty grind of a climb.  Long, grinding, winding, switchback and uphill.  The strongest riders were able to stay together, get to the top, and took off, while a good portion of the pack fell back a little bit and regrouped or got strung out at the top of the climb.

This was a three lap race, so this hill was going to put our legs to the test a couple more times. 

What I like about racing is the team aspect of it.  Lots of it within your own team; team rides, team tactics during racing events, etc.  But Sunday's race was like being a corporate kid, which I am.  It was about people from different departments (in this case from different teams) working together and communicating to achieve a goal/milestone.  For us, the goal was to work our way back up (bridge up in bike terms) to the main pack. We were sort of strung out, but as we got close to each other, a couple of us started talking about forming a pace line, taking short pulls, keeping a strong steady pace to bridge back up to the main pack.

And we did.  It took us a little time, but we got back on.  The hard work of each one of us "contributing to the goal" got us there.  In most cases, it could have not been done on just an individual effort.  Why? Because riding alone it's just you and the elements.  It's just your power pushing you through the wind and the rain.  While the main pack has 15, 20, 30+ people riding together, working a huge pace line, etc.  The main pack definitely has an advantage over the individual rider especially in certain conditions.

So now what? We're on lap two and here comes the hill again.  I'm a decent hill climber, but I know that I need to work my way to the front of the pack because I'm probably going to fall back a little bit as the stronger guys climb up the mountain.  And then it happens again.  I, along with a number of others fall off the back of the pack.  Again.

And again, even with a few of the same guys and a couple of different guys, we regroup after getting over the mountain and start talking about working together, how long our pulls should be, etc.  Because of our open line of communication, our willingness to contribute, we bridged back up to the main pack, and stayed with them to finish.

Both times this happened, our group was made up of 5-10 riders all from different teams.  We all had a goal in common we wanted and needed to accomplish and we worked together to achieve that goal.  When we all got back in to the main pack each time, we gave each other a smile, a head nod, a "nice work dude" because that is what team effort and working together is about.

I tell my racing story in this entry not to tell you how much I love riding (I do), but to tell you about working together as a team.  Working together as a team, not just in your own team but with other teams, other departments, and maybe even people from other companies.  Open up the line of communication more, leverage everyone's strengths (I hear this from friends from many companies), setting realistic expectations to name just a few.  It all starts with communication, including others (sometimes very early on) and planning how to attack the goal.

I'm not currently reading any books on this, but if you have any suggestions, please feel free to share it in the comments section. 

Have a great day.  BR

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