How Teams Learn to Play Their Own Game Series: Part 5, From Storm to Flow: The Rise of Real Teams
This article is part of a 7-part series on how teams learn to play their own game and unlock high performance, written by Martijn Taminiau all the way from Amsterdam.
Martijn is a certified Miki Island partner and team coach who works closely with teams to help them grow, connect, and perform at their best.
Together with Edwin Vriethoff at TeamWendbaar, they’re helping teams across the Netherlands build stronger collaboration and lasting impact.
Beyond Conflict: How Real Trust and Structure Unlock Team Flow
🧭 From Storm to Rhythm
The storm is over. Words were sharp. Tensions surfaced. And now – silence. Not the heavy kind, but the kind that asks: *what’s next?*
Back in Stage 2, conflict cleared the air. That was necessary turbulence. But many teams assume this is the finish line. Conflict gone, harmony follows. That’s a trap. This is the turning point. The moment where trust is tested, roles are clarified, and rhythm starts to build.
Think of the early Golden State Warriors when Kevin Durant first joined. Talent alone didn’t make them click – they had to fight through conflict, renegotiate roles, and build trust before flow emerged.
🔍 Stage 3 – Trust & Structure
Wheelan calls this the “trust and structure” phase. Think of it as scaffolding: fragile, necessary, and temporary.
Trust here isn’t about friendship. It’s about reliability. You do what you say. I know where you stand. We disagree without breaking.
Structure isn’t bureaucracy. It’s rhythm. Roles, rituals, and agreements become anchors. Not cages. Anchors. They free people to take risks, experiment, and play.
But it’s delicate. One careless comment, one broken promise – and safety wobbles. Stage 3 is a building site. Progress is real, but fragile.
A startup at this stage often discovers this truth: early conflict may be over, but now comes the test of building sustainable systems. Without structure, chaos returns. With it, the team can finally breathe.
🚀 Stage 4 – When Trust Becomes Flow
Then, almost suddenly, the scaffolding fades. Trust turns into muscle memory.
In Stage 4, the team stops asking *who does what* and starts asking *how do we move together?* Feedback flows uninvited. Roles bend without breaking. Energy feels shared.
In sports, it’s the no-look pass. The defender who switches without a word. Think of the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s -Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman seemed to read each other’s minds. They weren’t thinking, they were playing. Together.
In business, it’s Satya Nadella’s Microsoft. Teams shifted from silos to a culture of learning and trust, where ideas built on each other and flow became part of daily work.
And here’s the secret: flow feels light. Teams laugh more. Work feels less forced. Trust is visible in the air.
⚠️ The Trap of “We’re There”
Stage 4 is addictive. It feels like arrival. But as we saw in Stage 1 and 2, teams are never static.
One new hire. One crisis. One big win. Any shift can pull you back. That’s not failure – it’s the cycle.
High performance isn’t a destination. It’s maintenance. Reflection. The courage to reset. Again and again.
🔑 Leadership in Stage 3 & 4
Stage 3 leadership is scaffolding. You guide. You frame the messy talk. You invite trust to grow. You listen more than you direct.
Stage 4 leadership is oxygen. You don’t hover. You don’t fix what isn’t broken. You guard the flame without choking it. You clear obstacles, protect the rhythm, and then step back.
Phil Jackson understood this well with the Bulls. His leadership wasn’t about controlling every move, but about creating the conditions for flow – trusting the team to play their own game.
🎮 What Miki Island Reveals
On Miki Island, you can watch this shift happen.
Stage 3 shows up in role clarity, emerging agreements, and rising engagement. Teams start to breathe in sync.
And then, suddenly, Stage 4 clicks. Energy spikes. People laugh. They play as one. Not because rules force them to – but because it feels natural.
When the game ends, they don’t just remember fun. They remember insight. They’ve built a shared language for flow.
🌱 A Spiral, Not a Line
Team growth doesn’t move in straight lines. It spirals. Forward, backward, sideways.
That’s not regression. That’s mastery.
So the better question isn’t: *“Are we there yet?”*
The real question is: *“Where are we now -and what will it take to keep moving?”*
Because flow doesn’t arrive by chance. It’s created – together.
