Management, 12th Edition

17

Teams and Teamwork

Wisdom Learning From Others

> THE BEAUTY IS IN THE TEAMWORK

What distinguishes a group of people from a high-performance team? For an answer, look no further than your favorite NASCAR pit crew.

The difference between winning and losing in NASCAR often comes down to just seconds. When a driver pulls in for a pit stop, the team must jump in to perform multiple tasks flawlessly and in perfect order and unison. A second gained or lost can be crucial to a driver. Pit team members must be well trained and rehearsed to perform efficiently on race day.

The members of a pit crew are often former college and professional athletes. All are conditioned and trained to execute intricate maneuvers while taking care of tire changes, car adjustments, fueling, and related matters—all on a crowded pit lane.

Each crew member is an expert at one task. But each is fully aware of how that job fits with every other in a few-second pit-stop interval. The individual duties are carefully scripted and choreographed to fit together seamlessly at the team level. There's no room for error. If the jacker is late, the wheel changer can't pull the wheel.

Practice makes for perfection. And it's the job of the crew chief to make sure that everyone is in shape, well trained, and ready to go on race day. One crew chief says: “I don't want seven all-stars, I want seven guys who work as a team.” ...