The Weakest Link

Earlier this summer, I was in unavoidable earshot of a conversation between two acquaintances regarding team performance—specifically about an operational failure that had occurred in their business. They were lamenting about one of their co-workers, and the implication was that the co-worker was to blame. As a reminder, if I’m pointing a finger at someone else, three more are pointing right back at me.

Anyway, the thing that stuck with me from the encounter was that one of them stated loudly: “A team is only as strong as its weakest player!” Today, I’d like to delve a bit deeper into the meaning of this phrase and the conditions under which it applies in a team setting.

An old adage states: “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.” Unfortunately, this saying has been extended to the business realm to describe the strength of a team.

Certainly, if I have a length of chain and apply equal but opposing force to both ends, the chain will likely fail or break at its weakest link. In a length of chain, each link only comes into direct contact with its immediate neighbors who exhibit their own tensile strength characteristics. A link’s neighbor, and all other links for that matter, do not come to its aid if it begins to fail. Put plainly, each link is left to fend for itself as the chain is placed under stress.

Let’s now suppose that we extend the chain example to a team that manufactures widgets. Let’s assume that there is a clearly defined set of standard work documents that outline the work to be done by each team member along the value stream from the beginning to the end of the widget production line. If each individual contributor along the value stream works independently and only on their narrow part of the value stream, then I agree that the phrase: “A team is only as strong as its weakest player” applies. Here, there is no collaboration, no cross-training, no continuous learning and improvement. Everyone has their specific job and that’s what they do. Each component of the value stream cares only about themselves and their individual performance - nothing more, nothing less.

Now let’s insert the characteristics of a healthy team into the value stream. In a healthy team or organization, there is a spirit of learning and continuous improvement that is shared by each individual. There is shared purpose, strong communication, a sense of stewardship, well-defined goals and standard work, cross-training, backups, smooth handoffs, empowerment to pull the Andon Cord (to stop the assembly line in the case of an issue), and a laser focus on delighting the customer. In a healthy team, individuals hold one another to account and help colleagues when needed. In this environment, the outcome (delighting the customer) is bigger than any one individual and a sense of trust and well-being takes root and thrives.

Here, the adage “a team is only as strong as its weakest player” no longer applies. This is because members of a healthy team mentor and coach those who need a little extra help. They fill in for a player who’s not at their best because they know—through experience—that when they’re down, they’ll be supported. In this environment, the phrase: “I’ve got your back” means something and actions speak much louder than words. Most importantly, learning and development is a top priority so that today’s weakest player has an opportunity to become tomorrow’s strongest.

So let’s shun cut-throat, everyone-for-themselves, churn and burn corporate cultures and focus on building healthy teams and winning corporate cultures. Let’s kick the phrase “a team is only as strong as its weakest player” to the curb.