Photo credit: Josh Calabrese, Unsplash

Philosophy at Work is a series of Socratic group dialogues conducted online with self-selected colleagues at a large company. Topics include freedom, authenticity, courage, and anything else that relates to work life. This is the script from the session on Negative Thinking. Words in bold are shared in an open document on screen.

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Welcome! To this “Philosophy at work” session, where we examine concepts related to our work life. We use Socratic dialogue to create a ‘Community of Inquiry’.

Thinking out loud also means that you don’t have to mean what you say, or stand for it – we’re just trying out some ideas. Really: a community of inquiry. Weaving it all together.

It’s ‘focused and directed thinking’. On any topic. (I love this group, and I’m so happy that you’re here.) “Thinking is listening to the answers that we give ourselves”, as Plato said (supposedly).

And now, I will share my screen and start us off with some ideas, and then we do a round, and then we finish on time.

So, today, we’re talking about…

Teamwork

Which feels like something we should talk, generally, about a lot more. Teamwork. What is it? What is a team? How big is a team – I mean, Team Sweden when Sweden qualifies for the FIFA World Cup, is it “All of Sweden except those grumpy dudes who don’t approve of any of it”, kind of thing? 😊

Btw, have you ever been one of the grumpy, disapproving ones? Like, Team Sweden in the Eurovision? Are you “against”? What do you think about that? This is related to today’s topic, isn’t it? Like, to be part of a team, you need to approve of some same goal, or something? Some goal, and some rules – is that it?

“To be part of a team, you need to approve of and work in accordance with some given goal and rules” (?)

Is this sentence true? How should we edit this? What else do we need to put in here?

How big is a team? I guess a team can be as big as a country.
Can a team be all countries together?

Now, that starts to look like we’re finding another defining characteristic: ‘cause, No. Right? A team can’t be “everyone in the whole world”, because in order to define a team, you need an Other.

To define one’s team, one needs an Other

Like, the philosophical Other who is not me, not us.

Is this true? Oooh. If it is, we can see why we might have some problems in the world historically, and right now.

So, another part of today’s topic – since we want to make this a discussion that opens for a better future – right? That’s what our Socratic dialogues aim to do. So, teamwork as something that happens between teams. Like we always hear:

 “We need to break down the silos and work together as a team…”

As a team of teams, kind of thing. Silos teaming up.

What is it you do when you’re in a silo and you decide to team up with other silos?
What is it you do when you’re your own personal silo and you decide to be in a team instead?
What does it mean to be in a team?
To work as a team?

Like … Well. You’d have to not be a silo anymore, for a start.
The Oxford online Dictionary defines “silo” like this:

A tall tower or pit on a farm used to store grain.
A pit or other airtight structure in which crops are compressed and stored as silage.

An underground chamber in which a guided missile is kept ready for firing.

Pretty accurate as a metaphor, right? 😊

So, stop being a tower storing whatever you’re storing. Stop keeping missiles ready for firing: Open up, show what you’re doing, let others in. Trust others.

Ew. That can be hard.

Trust that others will see what you’ve created in your silo?
Trust others to not go stomping all over you?
Trust others to want to understand what you’re trying to do?
Trust others to find points of collaboration and not competition?
Trust others to show as much as you have?

…

Trust …

It seems like trust is a necessary component of teamwork.  
That almost makes me want to withdraw and give up immediately. It’s hard to trust! And why would you? Why would you trust that anyone else wants the same thing as you do, and actually wants to work together with you? When has that ever happened – right?

Ugh … Is that what teamwork is about? *Sigh*

You’ve got to trust that other people can do their job.
And you’ve got to be able to say what you want to work towards; what you see. Your vision. You need to talk about and share what you want to achieve. What you think and see.

… That means that you’ve got to want something. You’ve got have some kind of vision of where you want to go.

A vision or goal

…And being able to show what you mean, so that we can share it

There’s really no other way, is there? In a team,

You have to participate

…

And now, we do a round. What are you thinking?

  • All about vision and seeing the same thing
  • “It is a team effort”
  • We have to form new teams all the time… different people=challenging. Need trust… Or naïveté
  • You need a role in your team
  • You might not know how to reach your goal – that is what you find out as a team
  • You need … a leap of faith
  • Your team should be small enough to able to sit down for a roundtable
  • Unnecessary energy spent fighting your own
  • If I am irreplaceable – what then?
  • Team spirit is different than team…
  • The smaller the team, the better the work – 5 people optimal
  • Trust and connection are connected
  • Build trust by asking for help
  • Role accountability? Someone needs to make sure there’s next steps – anchor decisions/vision in reality
  • A team is not the same as “cooperation between departments”
  • Every participant shares a cherished spirit
  • Some teams’ goal is to beat the others – our teams’ goal is to cooperate
  • Competing teams are better at accountability!
  • We should learn from competing teams how to cooperate between teams – give more specific roles
  • Lack of trust could be fear of ultimate rejection/being unnecessary
  • You shouldn’t be in a team without being in the team
  • Sometimes one might have to accept someone else’s solution.