If you're dreading this month’s Teamwork day – due to be held on February 5 – then you might just be pleasantly surprised.
The annual event sees soldiers sit down to discuss their unit’s working culture and call out any bad behaviour.
But this year the initiative will also ask personnel to consider their part in the Service’s plan to double lethality by 2027 (read our feature on page 24 for more on that).
Speaking in a Teamwork video address, Chief of the General Staff, Gen Sir Roly Walker (shown), explained that in future the British Army would need to see and sense things over "twice the distance" it does today and decide and act in "half the time".
Many of these improvements would be delivered through the Land Training System, but the chief asked troops to use February 5 to think about their own particular role within that picture and their unit.
"You need to understand your own system and be an expert in your singular responsibility so you don’t let the team down," the general said.
"It's that unrelenting pursuit of excellence, and the sense that you can never really be good enough.
"You are the agent of your own improvement – it's not something that gets done to you.
But he added: "We are only as good as the teams we're part of."
He urged everybody – regardless of who they are – to find their voice and speak up at Teamwork sessions if something was wrong at work.
"If you are not being allowed to make a contribution, you need to share that," he said.
"Sometimes people don’t know by their actions that they are making it hard.
"Whatever your rank and level of experience, do not think you don’t have an opinion that matters."
Download resources for the day on Defence Connect’s Teamwork 2025 page.
