Teams beat individuals
Every one of us relies on an other people for our success. There are many of them. They provide the help we need, when and where we need it. Some people are good at seeking help and asking for it. Others aren’t. Accepting that we rely on other people, helps us to prepare for success.
If you don’t agree, ask yourself who taught you at school, who grows your food, who built your house and who designed your laptop? Who offered you your job? Who recommended you for a promotion? Who is waiting for you at the local police station, hospital and fire station to help with life’s emergencies? The list of our helpers is far too long to mention.
Could you make everything you need for success better and faster yourself? The answer is no. But despite the obvious, some people still believe their success is down to them and them alone. It isn’t and the idea that it is, can really hold you back.
Getting help from others and offering them your help in return, is a great trade. Where there are mutual exchanges of time, support and effort, a community of any kind can prosper. Where’s there’s an equality of support, every member of the group can be more successful than they would be alone.
This is true at work, where teams of people can achieve goals that individuals cannot.
Relays are faster, but harder to win
The World record for the men’s 400m is 43.03 seconds. That’s the fastest time that anyone has ever run an official 400m.
The World record for the men’s 4x100m relay is 36.84. That’s the fastest time a team has ever run an official 4x100m relay. That’s the same distance as the 400m, but the relay team ran it more than 6 seconds faster.
What does that tell us? When 4 people run the same total distance as 1 person, they can do it faster. That’s simple. But like life, relay running isn’t as simple as that. The team also needs to get the baton round the track safely. That involves 3 baton changeovers, at high speed. If those exchanges are practiced time and time again, medals can be won and disaster can be averted.
Baton disasters at the 2025 World Championships
There are no medals for the teams who drop the baton, or fail to hand it over in the designated zone. That exchange zone is 30m long, so there are no real excuses. Handing over the baton safely is a winning controllable. It’s a necessary part of success and it’s something that your team has control over.
In the Men’s 4x100m relay, the Jamaicans were the fastest team. They failed to get the baton round in the heat and missed the final. So did Team GB who might also have medalled.
In the Men’s 4x400m relay, the USA were one of the favourites. They failed to complete the baton handover in time and missed the final. It’s the USA’s 12th baton failure at major championships since 1995. Australia and Brazil were disqualified too.
Far too many medal hopes failed to get the baton round in the 2025 World Championships. No baton, no medal.
Get the baton round!
Every team in every kind of work has the daily equivalent of baton exchanges. Examples of daily baton handovers include: passing on clear and complete messages, recording data properly on your systems, designing a product so its effective and durable, sending a product in suitable packing to protect it, sending emails to the right people and not the wrong ones, carrying out handovers between job-sharers; and preparing holiday notes for the person covering for you. There are many, many others.
Getting the baton round safely and efficiently is a critical part of success. How well are you preparing your team for its baton exchanges?