Disney’s EPCOT celebrates its fortieth anniversary this year. Celebratory signage and special merchandise commemorating the occasion can be found throughout the Florida theme park.
EPCOT, an acronym for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, was originally Walt Disney’s concept for a utopian city of the future. He envisioned building a meticulously planned community where residents utilized the latest technologies. He wanted EPCOT to be void of unpleasantries (e.g., dirty streets, noisy garbage trucks, inefficient traffic patterns, etc.) that existed in most urban areas.
Unfortunately, the park’s namesake died before the project commenced and his vision never quite materialized. His brother Roy, however, championed an effort to pivot the original concept into the second theme park as we know it.
My family and I are Disney Passholders. Because we live so close to Disney World, we frequent the parks on a regular basis. EPCOT happens to be home to my two favorite Disney attractions: Soarin’ Around the World and Spaceship Earth.
Soarin’ is an IMAX simulator that takes guest on a 4-D hang-gliding journey over iconic natural and manmade landmarks like the Taj Mahal, the Swiss Alps, Mount Kilimanjaro, and the Eiffel Tower.
Spaceship Earth—the geosphere affectionately referred to by many as the giant golf ball—takes guests on a time-machine journey through the evolution of communications innovations like cave drawings, Gutenberg’s printing press, and the advent of the personal computer.
The ride begins in the Stone Age with projections of early humans fighting a woolly mammoth. A narrator—Dame Judi Dench—voices an important insight into the role teamwork played in mankind’s existence:
“Here, in this hostile world, is where our story begins. We are alone, struggling to survive until we learn to communicate with one another. Now we can hunt as a team and survive together.”
Whenever I hear these words, I am reminded that teamwork begins with communication. This is an assessment that is as true now as it was in the Stone Age.
What you say is important. But so is how you say it, when you say it, where you say it, why you say it, and to whom you say it.
Effective communication is understanding that tone, timing, and intent matter. It’s balancing the appropriate amount of transparency with the necessary amount of discretion. It’s embracing and utilizing common jargon—an often-overlooked element that binds teams.
If you want to improve teamwork on your team, start by examining the communication practices of the individuals on it. Do your teammates practice empathy when they speak? Do they use trigger words? Are they aware of their body language and other non-verbal cues?
Teams perish without teamwork. Teamwork perishes without communication. Communication perishes without effective communicators.
If you’ve got teammates who are effective communicators, be sure to thank them—and the Phoenicians. (*If you know, you know. If not, watch this video.)
As always…Good teammates care. Good teammates share. Good teammates listen. Go be a good teammate.
