Tag Archives: teams

Building Great Teams

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I did some research on team building recently.  What I found were lists of qualities that define effective teams.  The problem is that these lists are typically filled with descriptions of characteristics that are superficial.  I can say, or do, whatever is necessary, when it is necessary, so that I look like a great teammate on a great team.

I believe that building a great team requires great teammates. It is much more personal than a list of qualities. You do not want to build a house on a foundation of sand and you do not want to build a team on a foundation of individuals whose sole focus is on their own personal value propositions.

Dwight L. Moody said that “Character is what you are in the dark”, meaning that you express your true character when your potential duplicity is difficult to discover. You express your character in what you do, not what you say.

I like to associate teammates to shipmates.  This association strengthens the concept of teamwork.  When at sea, if the ship sinks, everyone gets wet.  In the most powerful definition of teamwork, everyone succeeds together or fails together. There are no special cases, unless someone places their own goals above that of the team.  This would be called sub-optimization.

You cannot build a great team from individuals who make excuses, criticize, are too busy to help others, or are unwilling to step out of their comfort zone.  In Warren Bennis’s book “Organizing Genius”, he describes the characteristic of great teams like the Skunk Works, Disney Studios, Apple, and the Manhattan Project.  These teams were built on personal sacrifice, cross functional activities (folks worked on what needed worked on no matter whose job it was), a commitment to each other and the project, a lack of respect for outside authority, an intolerance for individuals who did not fit the culture, and a supreme belief that they comprised the best of the best as a team.

What kind of shipmate are you?  The quote below is from a man who served in every branch of the military.  He was known for his ability to build successful teams in difficult circumstances.

“You gotta stop and think about your shipmates. That’s what makes you a great person and a great leader – taking care of each other. You’ve got to think — team. It takes a team to win any battle, not an individual.”  Courtland R. “Corky” Johnson

Great Teams

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Getting the most out of yourself and others.

Perspective is nearly everything when it comes to accelerating your performance, or someone else’s.  Human motivation is more art than science.  No matter what I believe or expect about the natural laws, for example, my opinion has no impact. Gravity does what gravity does, no matter what I think.

Human motivation is different. What you believe about yourself, or others, has an impact on your behavior or someone else’s behavior. The self-fulfilling prophecy does not apply to natural laws, but does apply to us lowly humans.  This is both good and bad.

We are unfinished beings.  We are deflected and controlled, to some degree, by self-talk and the opinion of others.  We evolve, or de-evolve, every day according to circumstances and conditions. This is why negative self-talk and overly critical communication with others is so destructive.

The difference in effect between leadership and supervision is so profound in this dimension. Leadership instills value in others, and their work, thereby increasing their motivation to follow. Great leaders focus this value, not on themselves, but on the individual and the business or project. Leadership starts with a commonly accepted value proposition and “leads” others to fulfillment.

Great teams have three creative qualities:

Creative Abrasion:  Different experiences lead to different points of view.  None may be completely correct, none are completely wrong.  Folks need to listen to others and to have others listen to them, in a safe environment.  In other words, agree to disagree.  Not being able to listen to others leads to the “emperor in his new clothes” syndrome.  Look this up if you don’t know what I am talking about.

Creative Agility:  The ability to test and refine our processes and ideas.  To align our creative effort toward the ultimate objective.  For us, this is fulfilling customer expectations, which leads to customer retention and profit.  It simply is not about us.  We are not at the center of things, the customer is.

Creative Resolution:  Making a decision.  In most cases the best solution winds up being a combination of several solution ideas.  When done right, we hear the word “we” a lot more often than the word “I”.

All of this boils down to a relatively simple concept.  Successful innovation requires a sense of community.  Working together nearly always leads to success.  Working as individuals nearly always leads to failure (or at best, limited success).

What does this mean to you?  See the operation of the business and its functions as a dance that requires partners. Find ways to work together. Focus on how we are doing with satisfying internal and external customers. Quit focusing on other people’s performance and think on how to improve yours.

Great teams are made up of a group of individuals who have a shared vision, an expectation of success, an understanding of their role, and are focused on execution.