My Blog

Getting a team together and last chances to be part of @FastTractor June 3, 2012

Ref

"Getting a team together that has the right mix of skills and is aligned by the same vision and mission is a recurrent challenge."

And

"without multi-disciplinary execution, the usual result of even a GREAT idea is usually nothing."


(I saw the above quotes on the Next Edge on FaceBook  and intended to write a comment in response - but my comment grew - so I'm making a new post instead.)

Fast Tractor marks a turning point

I completely agree about teams. When the team is incomplete it is an exhausting struggle to turn vision into reality. When complementary visions and the right mix of skills get into alignment then wonderful things start to happen, especially when there are deep reserves of trust and mutual respect to draw on. 

I've been seeing the positive side of this with Fast Tractor recently http://fasttractor.net/?page_id=22 It's less than three weeks since John Dada of Fantsuam Foundation shared a problem with me, which seemed insurmountable given our experiences of other struggles over many years. However, this time it has been different because I was able to share the problem with my friend Steve Podmore. He shared it with some of his friends. This brought new focus, discipline, skills and energy i.e. a new team, small and newly emerging, but with a rich mix of skills and disciplines. Steve has driven FastTractor, and the rest of us have provided support here and there to a lesser or greater degree. 

I won't explain the context and what I have been struggling to do for many years - but the last couple of weeks has been an amazing eye-opener for me - burdens have lifted. I suddenly realised yesterday that at last I feel part of a team that has the vision for "my kind of (UK based) communication and collaboration with grass-roots rural Africa".

FastTractor will be the demonstrator success story (after about a decade of struggle). I believe people will finally "get the idea" and want to join in. (This will be a dramatic leap forward after years of people simply being confused about what it is I am trying to do, and how it all fits together.)

Invitation to join in

BTW we are now into FastTractor's final sprint and there is still time to join in, cheer it on, and give it a push - if you hurry. But I'm inviting you. I'm not pressuring anyone. I'm confident that (barring some unexpected accident) FastTractor will have made it to its destination by the time Monday is over.

I'm still telling people because I believe anyone who has the chance to join FastTractor  and doesn't help it along will be disappointed afterwards to have missed out.

Wider issues of team building

Regarding the wider issue of building teams or struggling alone. I'm very concerned about what happens to us when we struggle alone. I recognise the importance of finding th right other people when we are trying to do new things in our rapidly changing world. When we are close enough together we can be more "alive". On our own - like scattered coals - we can quickly grow cold and turn to ashes. I'm assuming this is an issue of practical importance to the people contributing to the thread - so I'm including this link to Collage Network - Age of Collaboration (a practical initiative I've started in collaboration with Nikki Fishman) - http://collage-network.co.uk/