When my colleague Sheryll Fisher of Outback Initiatives rang me and asked, “Do you want to facilitate a leadership program for the Indonesian UN Peacekeepers?”, it was an immediate, “hell yes!” The chance to see how elite special forces individuals work collaboratively? I’m in.

I always learn on these programs even though I have been facilitating outdoor leadership programs for 37 years. People are an endless supply of joy, delight, and surprise.

Here the team is demonstrating their own individual superpowers, channelling their favourite superhero

One of the core tenets of the Indonesian Police Force is teamwork. I had the great privilege of seeing what that looks like when I facilitated a leadership development program with Outback Initiatives for this special group of trainers for the Indonesian United Nations Peacekeepers. They came over to Western Australia for an intensive leadership development program. For a very hierarchical organisation, the insights were surprising.

Out of uniform, they looked like any other group of mid-career professionals: bright-eyed and ready to learn. Even though dazed from long travel and apprehensive about the wild adventure they were embarking on, the Indonesian UN Peacekeepers were still fresh-faced and keen. With English being a second, third or fourth language, they had to listen and check carefully to instructions, adding to the uncertainty and complexity of the tasks we had set them.

Leadership programs with Outback Initiatives are challenging by design: we want to stretch people, prod them from their cozy familiar patterns and propel them to dig deeper, work harder, and problem solve better in difficult circumstances. It’s a pressure cooker so participants can learn quickly what works, and what doesn’t, when it comes to teamwork and leadership.

These folks are no strangers to tension: many of them had been deployed to volatile parts of the planet in their mission to maintain peace. They’d been shot at, endured attacks, and dealt with shady, violent people. Asking them to solve puzzles in a park with the night approaching was not going to test their fear threshold.

Here’s what did and what it taught me about teamwork:

Shared mental models create a fast-track for trust.

My friend Rob Brittle wrote about this in his experience of being a flight paramedic in the daring rescue of a 65 year old man trapped in the Franklin River for twenty hours. Read about it here. What Rob shared, and what I am reiterating here, is that when we have common frameworks to problem solve, or to map a challenge, it makes it easier to come up with solutions and test ideas.

When the UN Peacekeepers tackled a problem-solving challenge they deferred to their common mental model of putting the best person for the job in charge, regardless of rank. They leveraged know-how and strengths. They trusted this framework and each other as a result.

In my own field as an experiential facilitator, my colleagues and I rely on Kolb’s learning cycle: Plan, Do, Review, Apply (and variations of that). Learning by doing with reflection is another way to summarise it. We all know that debriefing is central to the learning cycle and we incorporate it into everything we do with participants and our own teamwork. Having that common mental model builds trust in our program, the process, and each other.

Somehow they managed to come up with a comprehensive plan of attack for one of the activities: shared mental models, huddle style!

2. Hierarchies matter until they don’t.

There was plenty of reference to ‘rank’. My team decided that they would rotate the role of leader starting with the most senior first. This way the more senior person could model the way. There’s something comforting in having someone more experienced, or more senior, go first. There is also something comforting knowing there is a pathway, a trajectory, to one’s career. The requirements are clear: you can’t jump from junior officer to Brigadier General. You need to earn credibility. There is value in experience.

There is also value in humility. One of the more senior leaders said that he learned a lot from two of his colleagues who were more junior to him in rank, but had a depth of experience in specialised skills (sniper skills and SWAT training). This matrix of respect was refreshing: authority, rank and expertise were all measures of credibility and not mutually exclusive. Entitlement was not a thing for them.

Through all the debriefs I also discovered there was a common desire to keep learning, to improve, regardless of rank. They were all equal as learners. Their enthusiastic response to every learning activity was infectious: no matter how tired they were, they were grateful for the experience and keen to make the most of it.

Rituals of gratitude, appreciation, and eating together for a strong team.

3. Teamwork matters.

They truly cared for one another. They listened to each other and gave open feedback to help the others learn. They didn’t blame anyone if they failed the task. They celebrated success together. They admitted limitations and worked with each other’s strengths. They appreciated each other and had fun supporting each other. It was a privilege to be part of the kindness they showed to one another.

If I could bottle what they committed to and shared with each other, then toxic cultures and dysfunctional teams would be a thing of the past.

Though I loathe what makes Peacekeeping necessary (wars, conflict, aggression), I am grateful for what these remarkable people can teach us. Purpose-led, values-driven, these brave young people risk life and limb for the safety and security of their fellow humans. Courage and compassion guide their commitment.

I encourage you to find your own inner well of passion and purpose. Show up as they do: full-hearted, team-focused, all-in. The world - and you - will be better for it.

Live with grace, lead in service.

Zoë

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Zoë Routh is a leadership futurist, podcaster, and multiple award-winning author. She works with leaders and teams to explore what's coming and what it means for leadership of the future.

Zoë is an outdoor adventurist and enjoys telemark skiing, has run 6 marathons, is a one-time belly-dancer, has survived cancer, and loves hiking in the high country. She is married to a gorgeous Aussie and is a self-confessed dark chocolate addict.