The Five Year Team
I’ve seen quite a few very successful teams. Teams where the environment they share is so conducive to collaboration and extremely high alignment that their collective output is far better than the sum of their individual outputs.
Lately, I’ve been thinking hard about what attributes of individuals make them great 5YT candidates.
The five year teammates
- Rally behind a purpose with complete commitment
- Don’t need to be motivated constantly and they show up
- Take their work and craft extremely seriously
- Have genuine fun in building together
- Trust each other and help each other
- Take complete ownership and get things done even when no one’s looking
- Push everyone to do the right thing
What makes this team formidable
The environment such a five year team gives you is what makes it formidable:
- Very high trust
- Deep shared ownership
- Power of intense collaboration
The career impact of being in such a team is immeasurable. The psychological safety of being in such a team allows you to be vulnerable in order to grow and learn, without having to ever worry about ulterior motives. The high-trust environment makes team members take bigger and bolder bets and that usually increases their odds of creating ground-breaking work. Such a team ensures you learn, earn and have fun.
Your personal growth is sorted long after you leave such a team because of the relationships you develop.
Work towards making your place in such a team, and then eventually working on building such a team yourself.