A lesson in process management and teamsmanship

On the ride into work today a co-vanpooler asked my thoughts about interrelationships within the workplace and we got into a whole discussion about team dynamics. She asked how one can best tell if the right people are truly suited for the job in order to be able to focus on the work.

I immediately thought about our experience in Guatemala and the dynamics that went into play as we got on with the task of assembling stoves. It occurred to me that what we really had was a work place, with an extremely diverse team to do a very specific job.  The Marine View team itself was diverse, with a mixture of ages, occupations, educational levels and backgrounds among the eight of us. Add our village guides, the Hands of Peacemaking staff and sometimes the hut owners themselves stepping in to help, throw in some language barriers and you have one of the more diverse teams imaginable.

Yet, after the first stove or two, we all knew what needed to be done and, together, especially in our small stove installation teams we were able to focus on the task at hand. We didn't need to talk to each other, we all just knew that certain pieces had to be fitted in a certain order (legs on first, big bolt or little bolt, washers, leveling, install stove pipe, etc.). We had deadlines. We had pride of workmanship. And we all had some skin in the game.

Step by step, stove by stove, we continued to improve as we went along, and by the end of our time we were all just, well, pretty darn good.  In manufacturing process lingo, we were about as "lean" as could be (despite the distractions of being watched constantly by children, the chickens clucking around us and at times unbearable heat while we worked).

What if all teams worked together this efficiently? What if we all just went about our business each day, dedicated to the task at hand and be able to partner with others who were equally as dedicated to work so closely together to get the job done, without regard to title or position? Okay, perhaps I'm sounding a little utopian here but you no doubt get the point. So let's all go forth and install some proverbial stoves.