8 minute read

What the Snowbirds Taught Me About High-Performance Teams

On February 3, 2016, I spent the day with the Canadian Forces Snowbirds, 431 Air Demonstration Squadron, at their 15 Wing Moose Jaw base near Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Not only was this a boyhood dream, but it was also my first real peek into how a high-performance team functions and what we, as leaders, can do to master this skill in our daily lives.

As a leader, especially early in my career, I was exposed to many examples of leadership—many of which I now realize were based on command & control* structures. These were designed to direct, dictate, and, most importantly, tell people what to do.

Command & control models have their place, particularly in high-stakes or emergency scenarios, but they falter in collaborative settings where adaptability and shared ownership are key. Many leaders default to this approach, which has existed since before the Roman Empire*.

This model makes sense at face value: the boss sets the direction and gets everyone in line, often under time pressure or the threat of negative consequences. However, as I have come to understand later in my career, these were not really teams, let alone high-performing ones. At best, they were working groups that managed to get things done, often at the employees’ expense.

As leaders, founders, managers, and team members, I believe there is value in being curious about other areas of high-performance—sports teams, military units, or even your local community organization.

High-performance exists everywhere, and the more curious we are about what created it, the better equipped we are to build a version uniquely our own.

Trust, Accountability, and Precision at Play

In the world of Canada’s only air demonstration squadron, the stakes could not be higher. Every flight pushes their limits as they fly CT-114 Tutors at speeds of 100 knots (190 km/h) to 320 knots (590 km/h), maintaining a jaw-dropping separation of just 1.8 meters (5.9 feet) in formation. When two aircraft perform a head-on pass, they aim to be only 10 meters (33 feet) apart.

This precision is awe-inspiring, but it’s not just skill—it’s trust and accountability at play. While we may not be flying at 190 km/h, 1.8 meters away from our teammates, it can often feel the same as we move at the speed of today’s business world.

High-Performing Teams vs. Working Groups

Let’s put their work into context by breaking down the difference between a high-performing team and a working group: A High-Performing Team is a group of individuals who are highly aligned around a shared purpose, collaborate interdependently, and consistently achieve exceptional results through trust, accountability, and leveraging diverse strengths.

Characteristics

Shared Purpose: Members are deeply aligned with a common vision and goals.
Interdependence: Collaboration is essential, and success is tied to collective performance.
Trust and Psychological Safety: Members feel safe to express ideas, take risks, and offer constructive feedback.
Adaptability: Teams are agile, leveraging diverse strengths to solve complex problems.
Accountability: Each member takes responsibility for their contributions and supports others in achieving excellence.

On the other hand, a Working Group is a collection of individuals who coordinate efforts to achieve individual tasks or objectives, with minimal collaboration or interdependence.

Characteristics:

Independent Goals: Members focus on individual tasks rather than a shared mission.
Low Interdependence: Collaboration may be minimal, with success defined by aggregated individual outputs.
Task-Oriented: Interaction is transactional, emphasizing efficiency over innovation or cohesion.
Limited Accountability: Members are accountable primarily for their own results, not the collective outcome.

Considering this context, how would you describe your current work environment? Is it closer to a working group, a high-performing team, or somewhere in between?

What the Snowbirds Teach Us About Culture

Let’s enter a room full of professionally trained fighter pilots, basically the Top Gun: Canadian Edition cast, to find out what we can learn and bring back to our teams.

I arrived on the base early that morning and began my day having breakfast with the Chief Warrant Officer and the Base Commander. My visit’s purpose was twofold: first, to provide an external perspective on their marketing and PR strategy, and second, to experience a day in the squadron’s life, culminating in a ride along during one of their training missions.

My first encounter with the pilots was during their morning pre-flight briefing. This was a dark, quiet room in the bowels of one squadron building with a long table and chairs all around. Each chair had the number of the pilot’s plane imprinted on the headrest, and pilots sat in the same formation they would fly. If you were beside someone in the air, you were beside them on the ground.

What struck me was how each pilot calmly and methodically took their turn describing what they did “wrong” on their last flight and what they would do to correct it in today’s exercise. There was no posturing, no “I am right, and you are wrong” dialogue—just clear accountability. This was Extreme Ownership* in action. Imagine how your meetings might change if everyone gave them this level of ownership and focus!

The Cost of Avoiding Accountability

The Chief Warrant Officer later told me a story about a fatal incident when a pilot was killed because of a lack of taking personal responsibility with their teammates for their actions and insisted on blaming other people. Their lack of accountability and blame-shifting led to a tragic training accident.

Since then, the Snowbirds have entirely transformed how they prepare for and debrief missions. Every post-flight debrief focuses on what went wrong and how to fix it. Pilots who fail to meet this level of accountability are coached intensively, and the squadron will not move forward until everyone is aligned.

Culture Trumps Individual Talent

When was the last time you were in a meeting where no one left until everyone was 100% clear on who was accountable for what, when, and why?

This experience showed me that while self-awareness and vulnerability are critical at a personal level, a strong culture rooted in those values will outperform any individual effort. When the group standard is set high, people either rise to meet it or self-select out.

Curiosity as the Gateway

The next time you join a new team, attend a community event, or meet a potential client, let curiosity guide you. Ask open-ended questions like:

“How do tasks get managed here?”
“What happens when things don’t go as planned?”
“What does success look like for this team or organization?”
“How do team members support each other during challenges?”
“What values are most important in the way this team works together?
These simple inquiries can quickly reveal the culture and dynamics of “how things get done around here.”

“A culture of vulnerability and accountability will outperform even the most self-aware among us.”

Curiosity doesn’t just help us understand—it unlocks doors to possibilities we might never have imagined. When we take the time to ask meaningful questions and embrace vulnerability, we not only discover how things get done but also inspire deeper connections and trust within our teams.

Reflecting on my day with the Snowbirds, I was struck by how their culture of extreme accountability, vulnerability, and trust made them a truly high-performing team. These were not just skilled individuals—they were part of a system that demanded excellence from everyone, supported by a culture that refused to compromise.

I left inspired to take the lessons I had learned back to my team and explore how we, too, could benefit from fostering a culture of vulnerability and extreme ownership. All this happened because I was curious enough at a business dinner to lean across the table and ask my tablemate what he did for a living. That simple question led to an extraordinary experience.

Curiosity isn’t just a skill—it’s a gateway to growth, connection, and transformation. What’s one question you can ask today to spark deeper connections or uncover new opportunities for your team?

Stay Curious!

Additional Reading

Google’s Project Aristotle: Focuses on psychological safety as the foundation of high-performing teams.

Tuckman’s Stages of Team Development: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, Adjourning.

Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team: The barriers to team performance, from trust to accountability.

Command & Control

A hierarchical organizational framework where decision-making authority is centralized at the top levels of leadership, and directives are passed down to subordinate levels for execution. It emphasizes control, compliance, and a clear chain of command. Found in Military and Emergency Services and Traditional Corporate Models.

Roman Empire

While the Roman Empire popularized and perfected many aspects of the command & control structure, the concept itself is older and likely evolved out of necessity in any context requiring coordinated large-scale efforts, such as early kingdoms, armies, and religious organizations. Its influence persists in modern militaries, bureaucracies, and corporations.

Extreme Ownership

How US Navy SEALS Lead & Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin