It's a Kind of Magic

When writing about high performing teams, I often refer to sporting teams. It is an easy analogy and one which most people can relate to in some way. For a change, I am going to write about high performing teams from a different perspective. An unusual decision considering the massive Grand Final win by the Richmond Tigers.

Let’s look at a high performing team from the inside of a famous rock and roll band, Queen.

I recently watched a documentary on Queen, never before released, recorded in 1977, when Queen was touring America. This was a very successful tour and launched them into the stratosphere there. However, it did take quite some time before they achieved a Number 1 single or album in the States.

There was footage showing the band working at the recording desk together mixing their own music. There was also footage showing them discussing how the actual live show would be delivered. There were stand out comments made by all band members. They utilised the strengths of the individuals within the band. They all had different styles of music which they brought to the band but when asked if they were to work on individual albums who would they work with, the answer was ‘probably each other’. The reason being ‘we know how each other works’.

What is very clear, is they had a shared purpose, knew their roles, could express their thoughts, had goals, and knew how well they were going and what they needed to achieve their goals. And they were optimistic about the future.

It wasn’t always a bed of roses of course. The Oscar winning movie, Bohemian Rhapsody, of which some question the absolute accuracy, highlighted the times in the band’s history when they didn’t quite see eye to eye. In this documentary they spoke about their differences and the cohesion of the band sometimes being stretched. This happens in all Teams. Yet they left a legacy together which is ongoing.

Queen created a kind of magic. What magic is your Team creating?