Over the years, I have had the honor of working with several very successful racing safety teams. All of the organizations have had something in common...teamwork!
There is no better feeling than seeing your team work their way through a tough situation...with skill and proficiency...and doing everything that can be done for the person involved, driver, fan, or crew. Having a positive outcome makes it even better. Having well-defined roles and responsibilities are good starting points...we all know that some situations require adjusting on the fly...knowing the basics is critical.
A couple of weeks ago, after having worked a challenging situation that had a great outcome, I was struck by how important it was to be able to trust your teammates to protect each other. Our situation required me, as the person with responsibility for the driver, to have undivided attention on the driver. Later, I saw a photo that shows the other guys on my truck there with me, while another crew was arriving on the scene. The photo reminded me of the 2 layers of teamwork at work, as the guys on my truck were covering my sizable rear end... the other truck arrived, helping us finish off the situation. What a great feeling that not only did our team work well together, the driver did well after a very shaky initial assessment.
Constantly assess how your team is working together...makes sure everyone knows their role and responsibilities...debrief, however informally, after every "working" situation to see how others viewed things...encourage open and candid comments. Waiting until you face a critical event is not the time to deal with shortcomings in teamwork.
Everyone goes home standing up!
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