Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision, the ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. Andrew Carnegie

It’s easy to see – and a lot of fun – to watch them using their innate ability to get the job done. What happens to such know-how as we age?

Toddlers nail teamwork 101 – why can’t politicians?

Can you explain why these two toddlers achieve a challenging task with excellent teamwork in 37 seconds? If they can do it, why don’t our politicians – especially in times when national unity and purpose is essential?

Is it worth comparing our toddler’s performance with our politicians’ effectiveness, based on what we see? Clearly, from our demo, teamwork isn’t rocket science. Therefore failure must be, to some extent, a result of picking up bad habits.

Politics is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen. Winston Churchill

Teamwork required, just like the toddlers

We give our UK political leaders immense power – even those who supplant the ones we elected and who change direction without consultation. We may stare, amazed, at our politicians’ petty conflicts, absence of teamwork and deceit. Yet, in the video, we watch two younger citizens confronting and solving a tricky problem. Way to go!

It is the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) that those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed. Charles Darwin

Toddlers know how, it’s easy for them

These wee folk demonstrate the basics of effective teamwork. They know you need …

• a shared goal
• clear communication
• prompt feedback
• encouraging onlookers
• positive reinforcement
• enthusiastic appreciation for excellent performance

Come on politicians, behave like toddlers

Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage. Ambrose Bierce

Teamwork gets results. If you don’t or can’t cooperate, how will you make useful things happen in a productive and timely way? I remember a Japanese professor explaining how in the UK culture, we tended to value the boss’s brain, while in their (Quality Circle) culture, they valued all the brains. Thinking of the recent screw-ups, what goes wrong? Perhaps …

• They neither understood nor had the expertise to do the job.
• They ignored teamwork and the potential contribution from available (if not fired) experts.
• They wouldn’t know a proper plan if they fell over one.
• They naively expected ideological puff to win the markets, convince comrades and almost certainly destroy what’s left of the UK economy.

Meaning?

Our work is the presentation of our capabilities. Edward Gibbon

• Soundbites are noise and nothing more. The frequent repetition of slogans signals deceit, danger and disrespect.
• If you don’t understand a challenge, how can you overcome it?
• Ideology won’t solve problems on its own.
• The sad and ridiculous situation in the UK is not due to OPEC, Putin, the markets or even greed – it is due to crap leadership.
• Expertise from outside the political herd is essential for the return of success and a less stressed population.
• Politicians must be qualified to implement and manage with real-world skills like diagnosis, planning and having their performance measured against honest, standardized, criteria. Why give control of the vast machine of government to ineffectual people who tend to dissemble, bully and act in shameful self-interest?

Should be easy as toddlers and bricks

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. H.L. Mencken

There’s nothing like a cynical quote to end on. Is there a grain of truth in it? Ineffectiveness denies us the benefit of our assets. Team-working toddlers show us the way forward.

© Mac Logan