The true depth of connection between team members is an invisible quality that is only seen when it is reflected in the actions of the team under the most challenging of circumstances.
Don’t look up ‘Viscosity’ in the dictionary if you want a good description of highly effective teams. I don’t assume you want your team to be “gooey.” And yet I can’t imagine any other term that so effectively describes that “stuff” that flows throughout a highly cohesive team and keeps them smoothly humming along under the greatest of stress.
What is that mysterious quality that truly connects team members, lubricates difficult situations and keeps friction from building to a point where parts and systems begin to break down? I call it Viscosity. It’s not quite invisible. And yet it’s also not a team component that’s easily held up for examination. It tends to slip through the fingers of those trying to mold it into an easily recognizable and tangible shape that can be examined, probed, prodded and dissected for clear and perfect understanding.
It is the truly ineffable. And yet, as my colleague Jeff Salz states, it’s the only thing that really eff-ing matters.
