Teamwork
The $12 Bolt: Why Great Teams Are Only as Strong as Their Weakest Link
200km offshore.
9°C water temperature.
I was so seasick I hadn't been able to eat or drink anything without vomiting it back up for three days.
Three full capsizes in the space of five hours during the night.
The only safe space was a tiny cabin half-full of seawater, vomit and urine.
Our parachute anchor had completely ripped its holding bolt from the hull.
There was no let-up in the weather in sight.
Eventually, there was a helicopter rescue.
End of expedition.
Loss of a $100,000 boat.
What caused the failure?
A $12 bolt.
What a $12 bolt taught me about building high-performing teams
We are only as strong as our weakest links.
And that lesson applies just as much to leadership and building high-performing teams as it does to crossing an ocean.
When we think about improving team performance, our instinct is often to focus on strengths. How can we become better communicators? More innovative? More productive? More resilient?
All of these things matter.
But sometimes the greatest improvement doesn't come from making our strengths even stronger. It comes from identifying our vulnerabilities. The metaphorical $12 bolts inside our teams.
These may be weaknesses or blind spots that seem insignificant when everything is going well but can become critical when the pressure rises, circumstances change or the team enters an uncertain environment.
It could be:
- One difficult conversation nobody wants to have.
- A lack of trust between two important people.
- A critical skill held by only one team member.
- Poor communication between departments.
- An unclear decision-making process.
- A leader who has become a bottleneck.
- A risk everyone knows about but nobody owns.
None of these may appear catastrophic today.
Neither did my $12 bolt.
Find the weakness before you enter the storm
It is far easier to replace a $12 bolt onshore before the storm arrives. Once you're in the middle of the storm, it's often too late.
One of the characteristics of resilient, high-performing teams is their willingness to look honestly at their vulnerabilities before circumstances force them to.
Good leadership isn't simply about asking:
"What are we really good at?"
It also means having the courage to ask:
"Where are our $12 bolts?"
- Where could we fail?
- What are we overly dependent upon?
- What conversations are we avoiding?
- What assumptions are we making?
- What would become a serious problem if our environment suddenly changed?
Identifying and strengthening these vulnerabilities can make teams more resilient, improve collaboration and help them navigate change and uncertainty.
So, where are your team's $12 bolts?
That's a question worth discussing with your team.
Because the best time to discover your weakest link isn't when you're 200km offshore in a storm. It's while you're still onshore and have the opportunity to do something about it.
I use expedition stories like this in my leadership keynote speaking and team development experiences, helping leaders and teams examine how they collaborate, identify vulnerabilities, navigate change and build the resilience required to pursue bold goals in uncertain environments.
Captain Axe