Since watching the Netflix sports documentary series ‘Drive to Survive’ earlier this year, I’ve been a Formula 1 fan.
This is weird because I haven’t closely followed a sport since leaving New Zealand almost 8 years ago. And I also because I spent years criticising Formula 1 for being a boring sport for rich dudes.
However, I now think there is something special about 20 drivers, travelling at 300kph, barely 10cm off the ground, hurtling into and around corners, and all being within tenths of a second of each other. It’s also the personalities, the technology, and the team work required to succeed, that won me over.
Whilst listening to a podcast today, I was stoked to discover that Ceri Evans, a New Zealand forensic psychiatrist well known for being the psychologist for the All Blacks, is also an instrumental force in the #1 Formula 1 team, Mercedes-AMG.
He has a mantra that has been adopted across the Mercedes-AMG organisation, “See it, Say it, Fix it”.
Everyone across the organisation is encouraged to speak up and point out the team’s shortcomings. This produces an environment of psychological safety which has been critical to Mercedes-AMG’s ability to confront failure and improve.
I love how simple the mantra is, and I’m excited to experiment with it in my own teams.