The Formula 1 Secret For Team Success
Have you ever wondered why a certain, select few organizations enjoy a disproportionate share of profits, victories, and championships?
In business, it only stands to reason that a company with deeper pockets, better locations, or more efficient systems should win more than its fair share. However, it’s tougher to explain that discrepancy in pro sports when teams are playing by the same rules, competing with similar resources, and drawing from the same talent pool.
What the New England Patriots accomplished under Bill Belichik with 9 Super Bowl appearances is similar to what the Green Bay Packers pulled off under Vince Lombardi in the 1960s. The Pittsburgh Steelers of the ’70s, the Edmonton Oilers of the ’80s, and the Chicago Bulls of the 90 also reveal how individual superstars can only take you so far. Winning at the highest level always demands a complete team effort, which is why intangibles such as core values, philosophy, and culture often represent the make-or-break difference for championship-level organizations.
Is there a ‘secret formula’ for team success that transcends products, services, and talent? And where can any leader find it?
One of the hottest shows on Netflix provides a multitude of clues. Drive to Survive takes you behind the scenes of the high-pressure, high-stakes world of Formula 1 Racing. More than just binge-worthy escapism, DTS forces you to ask why a select few such as Mercedes, Red Bull, and Ferrari consistently win more races and titles than their opponents. Watching four seasons of DTS has demonstrated that a unique combination of a leadership mindset supported by a fully aligned culture is just as, if not more important than having a superbly functioning race car in the hands of a world-class driver.
The parallels between this reality show and real-life business are glaringly and grippingly accurate.
Grab hold of the wheel and discover The Formula 1 Secret For Team Success on Leaders & Legends
“I hate losing. It doesn't matter if it's racing or playing Ping-Pong - I hate it” LEWIS HAMILTON
Over four eye-popping seasons, Netflix has introduced the world to human melodramas and backroom maneuvers of Formula 1 Racing. Drive To Survive opens intimate windows and allows us to peer into the lives of an assortment of outsized personalities. Roguish playboys. Conniving billionaires. Gritty underdogs. Aging veterans. Worried parents. Talented, reckless hotheads. Formula 1 is where you find high-octane blood, sweat, and tears of motorsports against a backdrop of high-stakes competition and politics with cars burning serious rubber in excess of 220 mph where margins of error are measured in tenths of seconds.
Ten teams, each with two drivers and an annual budget of more than $200 million dollars are breathing down each other’s necks for top prize money and prestige, yet only a select few take the checkered flag on a consistent basis. One of those teams is Mercedes-AMG Petronas, featuring one of the greatest drivers in Formula 1 history, the British-born Lewis Hamilton.
One scene, in particular, shines a glaring light on what championship teams are truly made of when Hamilton makes a small yet critical mistake at the German Grand Prix, skidding out, clipping the wall, and losing a chunk of his front wing. His teammate Valterri Bottas also makes a critical error and spins into the wall leaving Mercedes with only 2 of the 102 available points. During the post-race debrief, a frustrated Hamilton abruptly walked out and stared at the ground while telling his team principal, “I’m really sorry.” To which Toto Wolff looked him in the eye and replied, “No, when we make mistakes, we all make them together”.
Episode 4 of Season Two of DTS is a masterclass in what strong leadership and teamwork look like. The business world is always full of excuses for why things don’t get done. But, winners don’t have that luxury in Formula 1, which is why it’s fascinating to see Harvard Business School professor Anita Elberse probe Wolff’s management style and how he leads Mercedes through winning and losing to become one of the most dominant teams in racing history.
“When you screw up, you want to identify the person. It’s how the human mind works. But we have a no-blame culture. We blame the problem rather than the person, which is easier said than done.”
TOTO WOLFF, Team Principal, Mercedes-AMG Petronas
THREE KEY TAKEAWAYS:
1. How You Handle Failure Sets You Up For Success
Strong, confident leaders don’t pretend everything is sunshine, rainbows, and lollipops. After the race, Toto quips on the phone, “Tough day at the office? No, it was a total crap, fucking shit, awful day at the office” He then calmly sips his coffee and subtly smiles. No blaming. No temper tantrums. Just steely-eyed determination to do better and be better next time.
2. Don’t Follow the Rest of the Field
Many DTS episodes are prime examples of poor leadership and teamwork, Many of the other nine teams have little hope of ever reaching the podium and it begins with many Team Principals displaying attitudes of tolerating mediocrity while failing to demonstrate loyalty. Unlike their counterparts, the Mercedes team is a well-oiled machine with a shared championship mindset that shows what it really takes to succeed. Like many companies, some Formula 1 teams are just happy to be there, never being in a position to contend and allow emotional poison like scapegoating and walking on eggshells to permeate the workplace.
3. A No-Blame Culture Begins With the Leader
This happens in two ways. Leaders never want to blame someone on the team publicly or privately. Confidentially, in a 1-on-1, a leader can discuss what went wrong and how to improve, but the focus is still on improvement, not blame. The second requirement is for the leader to praise the team collectively for success even when one person was primarily responsible. Over time, this approach creates an environment where everyone on a team swarms to solve the problem. Everyone versus the problem, not us versus them or us versus each other. In Formula 1, when the flag drops, the b.s. stops and if a leader is not fully committed to a no-blame culture through their words and actions, the team will not follow suit.
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