Have you ever come across the concept of Tiger teams?
It’s not a new concept, in fact it’s been around for decades. It started in the military, and the approach was famously adopted by NASA during the Apollo 13 crisis, when they had to quickly find a way to bring the astronauts back to Earth safely.
So what is a tiger team?
A tiger team is a specialised, cross-functional team brought together to solve or investigate a specific problem or critical issue. If you have more than one problem, you’ll need more than one tiger team. Who gets pulled into the team depends on the nature of the issue and the skill sets and expertise needed to solve the problem, so could be sourced internally and/or externally. Time is usually of the essence.
During my time working in IT, when there was a technical issue where the root cause wasn’t obvious, we’d pull together a small group of people with expertise (analysis, coding, testing, network etc) in the area that had failed, and it was their sole focus to find the root cause, fix it so it didn’t happen again, and work with business colleagues to correct whatever impact it had on customers, as quickly as possible.
🐯 They got whatever support they needed.
🐯 No ideas were off the table.
🐯 Everyone had an equal voice.
🐯 Everyone knew what they were there to do.
🐯 Everyone was fully committed.
They were strongly encouraged to share ideas, challenge, debate, explore, experiment, learn, and celebrate when the issue was solved and everyone could breathe normally again.
And the team usually came out of that experience on a high, despite the hard work and sometimes long hours, feeling like they’d done a great job and were recognized and appreciated for their efforts and contribution.
And then, crisis over, they’d go back to their usual teams and normal role. Where, for whatever reason, there wasn’t the same high level of psychological safety, sense of purpose, camaraderie and focus.
And there’d be a sense of loss and disappointment. They’d experienced a way of working together that gave them a glimpse of what could be, but now no longer had. And seemed powerless to try and create.
So how do you create more ‘tiger’ in your team, even if there isn’t a crisis to swarm around?
Well, it has to be conscious and intentional.
There has to be
🐯 a shared vision,
🐯 a shared identity that you all stand for,
🐯 a shared, clear sense of purpose,
🐯 a clear set of boundaries and defined scope,
🐯 a belief set that the team environment will help you to fulfill your potential,
🐯 a set of shared values that translate into lived behaviours that support every member of the team to be phenomenal.
Are you looking for more ‘tiger’ in your team?
