“If you want to go to the moon, you’ve got to be able to not only have the escape velocity to get there, you also need an airtight container so that you don’t asphyxiate on the way there.”
Nice quote from polymath Andres Gomez Emilson in reference to trying to find a solution to universal problems, and the need to solve multiple interlocking problems at once.
When working with teams, the team needs to build the momentum to overcome gravity towards an ambitious project goal, but it also needs the coherence to continue and survive.
The coherence here is not a layer of steel but a metaphorical membrane, constituted from the interplay of agreements, expectations, roles, shared understanding, ways of working, all of which ‘protects’ the team – as a team!
This membrane needs to be flexible, adaptable – maybe even antifragile.
And when setting up teams, that coherence is best co-created at the initial launch stage, and certainly before reaching escape velocity where it will get tested the most.
Learn how to set up and charter new teams: