Michael Caine was making a film with Sean Connery and director John Huston.

They were on the set of ‘The Man Who Would Be King’.

Caine said to Connery, “Have you noticed how John Huston never gives us any direction?”

Connery said, “You’re right, he doesn’t.”

Caine said, “Go and ask him what’s going on.”

And Connery went over to Huston and said, “John, how come you never give us any direction about how you want us to play our parts?”

And John Huston said, “You only have to do that when you get the casting wrong.”

Isn’t that a great take on teamwork?

If you get the people right in the first place everyone can trust each other.

And just get on with doing their own job.

I heard another great example of teamwork from James Stewart.

He was talking about acting in a Hitchcock film.

He said, “Hitchcock never gave you any advice about how to play your scene. He didn’t see that as his job.

He gave you a start position for the shot, and an end  position.

 What happened in between was your business.

You were the actor, that’s what you were getting paid for.”

That’s how a proper team works.

When you don’t keep looking over each other’s shoulder.

You trust people to do their job so you can concentrate on yours.

Tony Adams was a great example the proper way to work in a team.

 He was in charge of the most successful Arsenal defence ever.

He said, “I’d never try to take the ball off the attacker.

If I did, I was committed and, if I missed, he was past me.

So what I’d do is just shut him down.

So he’d have to shoot from about 30 yards out.

And I knew I had a goalkeeper behind me who could handle anything from 30 yards.”

That’s what every member of a team should be thinking.

You trust the other person to do their job.

You haven’t got to constantly check they’re doing it correctly.

Because, if you do that, you’re not concentrating on your own job.

And you lose both ways.

No, in a proper team, the winger trust the centre forward to be there when the cross arrives.

The midfield trusts the defenders to pick up their man.

The defence trusts the goalie.

It’s like that in advertising when we get the team right.

The client trusts the agency to solve their business problem, not just do flashy, trivial ads.

The creatives trust the planners to have an insightful strategy, not just state the obvious.

The account handlers trust the creatives to do work that will cut through in a break, not just try to win awards.

In short, everyone trusts everyone else to do their job.

In the 1966 World Cup final, it was half time in the dressing room.

Alf Ramsey stood in front of Bobby Moore.

Ramsey said, “Look, you’re the captain. Tell Jack Charlton to get on his man quicker. Tell Ball he should be tracking back more. Tell Peters to start making diagonal runs out of midfield…..”

Bobby Moore just looked up and said, “Leave it out Alf. I’ve got me own game to worry about.”

That was the match where England won the World Cup.