Team Mentality: The Key to Change

This year’s Dutch Digital Day in Amsterdam was all about digital superheroes. ‘Even heroes need a day off’ and we couldn’t agree more. Talks by Tim Houter, Phil Hawksworth and Carl Addy showed us that mentality is what defines true heroes.

Working across disciplines

Phil Hawksworth shared his opinions on how to get the most out of interdisciplinary teams. He was spot on when he said the best work is produced when team members understand each other; an understanding of each other’s disciplines creates balance. When setting up teams, he offered a few key principles:

1. Set a clear and collective goal (and remind yourself of it)
2. Theory is helpful, but pragmatism will get you further
3. Don't pick fights; pick battles

Embracing chaos & stress

We’re moving forward at a rate we can’t test for, and new developments are always on the horizon. We need to be able to deal with change, and with change comes chaos and stress. Carl Addy from The Mill says this is a must, and we fully agree with him. We need to embrace these things in order to achieve better work. With stress comes survival and survival brings out the best in people.

This is what they’ve learned with their Blackbird project, which transforms automotive advertising. It’s the first fully adjustable car rig that creates photoreal CG cars. Carl shared two insights that will bring your team even further:

1. We’re built for high stress and from duress comes great art. Put pressure on yourself.
2. In chaos you make leaps not steps. Find ways to be okay with chaos.

Finding a brave team

The surprise of the day was the passionate presentation by Tim Houter, team captain of the TU Delft Hyperloop team. With the charisma of Steve Jobs, he told the story of how they won 2nd place in Elon Musk’s Hyperloop competition.

The Hyperloop is a high-speed transportation concept, using magnetic levitation and vacuum tubes to transport people through low-pressure tubes. In theory, this would make it possible to travel from Amsterdam to Paris within half an hour.

Obviously, realizing such an innovative concept meant facing several challenges. In order to make it a success he knew he needed people who were able to do things differently, people who wanted to explore the unknown. Tim was able to gather such a team and in less than a year, with just 30 people, they realized their concept.

Being digital heroes does mean more than just showing flashy ads, but all in all it was an inspirational day. Looking forward to the next time the digital superheroes get together!