go with the flow

a damn nice quote from Eric Brechner’s I. M. Wright “Hard Code” blog regarding team dynamics, specifically about retaining people:

[…] the best way to deal with turnover is to expect it and embrace it. How? Think flow, flow, floooooooow.

Think of your team as a river instead of a lake. A lake stagnates. There’s no energy or impetus to change. The same is true of groups that stagnate. They cultivate mediocrity and complacency; they abhor risk. A river is always running and changing with lots of great energy. You want a river.

a nice metaphor and it strikes a chord – building an ideal team is one thing, but perhaps it is more about building a self-sustaining culture when individuals might be coming and going. the latter seems to be a more important goal in the long run.