How Teams Learn to Play Their Own Game Series: Part 7, The Spiral: Teams as Living Systems
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.
Why Team Development Never Ends (and Why That’s Good News)
📍 The Myth of “Done”
Teams often ask: *“How do we get there?”*
But here’s the truth: there is no *there*. Teams aren’t static achievements. They’re living, evolving systems.
In Stage 1, they search for safety. In Stage 2, they wrestle with conflict. In Stage 3, they build trust. In Stage 4, they taste flow. And then? Something changes. A new hire. A crisis. A big win. And the cycle begins again.
Think of the Chicago Bulls after Michael Jordan’s first retirement. They had already reached the peak, but the loss of one player reset the dynamics entirely. They had to spiral back through conflict and trust before finding new rhythm.
🔍 The Spiral of Development
Wheelan shows that teams move back and forth through stages. Progress isn’t linear. It’s cyclical.
Each return isn’t failure – it’s renewal. Like an athlete who starts every season again, but stronger. Like a musician who warms up with scales before a concert. Basics revisited, but with deeper mastery.
Think of startups that pivot. They don’t start from scratch; they reuse their culture, their trust, and their lessons to build something new. That’s the spiral in action.
🚀 From Linear to Spiral Thinking
The mistake? Believing in straight lines. The reality? Teams evolve in spirals.
Linear thinking says: *“We’ve made it, let’s stay here.”*
Spiral thinking says: *“We’ve learned, now let’s learn again.”*
When the Golden State Warriors lost Kevin Durant, they didn’t collapse. They spiraled back – relearning roles, testing new rotations, and eventually finding flow again with a different core.
Each loop adds resilience. Each challenge becomes fuel.
🔑 Leadership in the Spiral
Leaders stop asking, *“How do I keep us here?”* and start asking, *“What does the team need now?”*
Sometimes that means tightening structure. Sometimes loosening it. Sometimes stepping forward. Sometimes stepping back.
Adaptive leadership is about sensing the spiral – and playing with it, not against it.
Satya Nadella’s leadership at Microsoft shows this well. He didn’t try to freeze the company at one level of performance. He embraced reinvention – moving from a “know-it-all” to a “learn-it-all” culture.
🎮 What Miki Island Reveals
Every playthrough is different. Some teams leap ahead. Others loop back. A few spiral sideways. And that’s exactly the point.
On Miki Island, the spiral becomes visible. A setback in the game doesn’t mean failure. It means practice. Teams discover how to restart without shame, how to adapt, and how to keep moving forward.
🌱 Closing Thought – Beyond the Game
Teams are never finished. They are always becoming.
That’s not a weakness – it’s the beauty of collective growth.
Mastery isn’t about staying at the top. It’s about moving with the spiral.
Because in the end, the spiral is the game. And the teams that thrive are the ones that keep playing.
