A few years ago, the expression “Hold the rope” started making its way through the sports world. It became a popular mantra for a lot of teams, and coaches often used it during pregame speeches to inspire their players to not let down the other members of the team.
The expression was based on the hypothetical scenario of someone dangling from a cliff and the only thing keeping that person from falling to a certain death was you and a piece of rope. If that person was your teammate, would you be willing and able to hold the rope?
Could you maintain your grip when your arms burned from the pain or if the rope caused your hands to bleed? Could you make that kind of sacrifice for your teammates?
The analogy is supposed to signify your commitment to your role on the team, no matter how big or small. It’s about your willingness to fight through pain and adversity and your ability to remain focused without suffering any mental lapses.
Some coaches would get a long piece of rope and have all of their players hold the rope, while the coach delivered a motivational locker room talk. Others gave each player a small piece of rope to carry around as a reminder of the player’s obligation.
I used to really like the analogy, because I thought it was indicative of what good teammates do. But I recently came across an interesting article about the Ringelmann effect that has me rethinking my previous belief.
In 1913, a French professor by the name of Max Ringelmann observed a rope pulling contest. He discovered that students participating in the contest exerted less force as their teams increased in sized. Basically, when the students were part of a team, they didn’t pull as hard as they did when they were competing as individuals.
The phenomenon is known as the Ringelmann effect, or social loafing.
It has been studied extensively by numerous large companies over the years in an attempt to increase worker productivity. Social loafing is something that happens on nearly every team. It’s a player who coasts during a difficult drill. It’s a staff member who doesn’t speak up during meetings. It’s a citizen who doesn’t vote because he thinks it won’t make a difference.
When you’re faced with completing a task as an individual, you tend to give your maximum effort. Otherwise, the task won’t get done. But when you are part of a team, you can be tempted to lean on your teammates, anticipating that they will pick up the slack if you happen to let up on your effort.
The problem with the hold the rope analogy is that’s all some members of the team do—hold the rope. And that’s not always enough. If you want your team to transition from existing to excelling, you need to do more.
Good teammates don’t just hold the rope, they pull the rope—and they pull it with their maximum effort the entire time, every time. It’s their way of showing the other members of the team how much they care and how willing they are to share their energy.
If you’re part of a team, don’t just hold the rope…pull the rope.
As always…Good teammates care. Good teammates share. Good teammates listen. Go be a good teammate.
