Team Building: The Making of a Super Team

culled from:profilesinternational.com
Sunday, February 1, 2015 will no doubt register in the minds of football fans across the world for years to come, especially the last two gut-wrenching plays of the big game. We’ll never forget the jaw-dropping, heart-stopping interception by rookie corner Malcolm Butler, when most would have bet their paychecks on a running play that utilized Marshawn “The Beast” Lynch, who was undeniably one of the best running backs in the league. Although the play from the one-yard line, with only twenty seconds remaining on the clock, will be the subject of debate for the foreseeable future, the making of these super teams happened well before the coin toss at the start of the game.

The making of any great team requires painstaking member selection, focused individual and team development, capable and effective leadership, clear goal orientation and direction, and the total engagement of the owners, supporting staff, and a followership of faithful fans. Still, the perfect blend of talent and leadership needs more in order to be declared a “super team.” Think about the teams within your organization or company. What separates the good teams from great teams? The satisfactory teams from sensational ones? The successful teams from sustainable ones?

I have studied team performance for more than 35 years, and I have identified four characteristics that are typically present within superior teams. These super teams must be able to do the following:

    Fire on all cylinders
    Exhibit fluidity under fire
    Deliver their “first fruits” to the team
    Focus forward without apology

Fire on All Cylinders
Many would agree with the importance of having the right people on the bus and in the right seats. Many organizations spend valuable time and resources in selecting just the right people to join their organizations. Some develop performance models that represent top performance in a specific position, and use these models to isolate and replicate those barely noticeable differences in people that correspond to top performance. Leaders of super teams realize that talent selection is only part of the challenge. The same information used to identify superior performers can also be used to optimize peak performance post-hire. It can provide insight for job development and career coaching, and identify management strategies, environmental conditions, and job adaptations that will bring forth an individual’s or a team’s best skills, behaviors, and interests. After all, it does no good to have superior talent standing on the sidelines, under-valued and under-utilized. High-performance teams—much like high-performance engines—must fire on all cylinders. Every member of a team must feel capable, valuable, and deployable.

Fluidity Under Fire
Some of the most competent and capable teams have been encumbered by process and policy inhibitors that restrict and restrain their members from executing their best. Cumbersome hierarchies and rigid bureaucracies frequently prevent engaging collaboration between teams and render the members of a team powerless to respond to business demands. Leaders of super teams recognize the importance of empowering people who are committed to the goals of the organization, and capable of driving results toward the attainment of those goals. Under the pressure of organizational dynamics or environmental transition, super teams are fluid. They can act efficiently within an “open systems” management model, giving everyone the advantage of operating across the organization as needed to achieve a designated goal, rather than being limited to hierarchical management structures. In the football vernacular, they can effectively execute a pass play or a run, as needed. They are, in the HR/OD vernacular, proactively adaptive or fluid. Masterful succession planning has readied them to meet changing conditions and the requirements that accompany those conditions. The bench strength for a super team is ready to be deployed, and has not been lulled to sleep from years of sitting idly awaiting the opportunity to execute.

“First Fruits”
In ancient Greece, the term “first fruits” referred to the requirement on the part of Greek citizens to bring a portion of their agricultural offering to the governing body. This assured the continuance and sustainability of Athenian power by assuring the ongoing supply of money, food, and supplies for the upkeep of the temple complex. The key word in the expression is “first,” or “from the top,” meaning they would deliver the first and best of all they acquired to the ruling party. Along those same lines, similar principles and concepts have arisen out of that practice, adages such as “a house divided against itself cannot stand,” or “if you chase two rabbits, both will get away.” Implicit in these expressions is the concept of centrality of purpose and priority. Super teams realize their allegiance is to the team. When their allegiance is divided, they cannot and probably will not deliver their best to the team’s objective. In business, the term is more suitably referred to as goal alignment. Individuals are likely to commit their best or “first fruits” to the team when their values are aligned with the organization’s values, and when their goals are aligned with the organization’s goals.

Forward Focused without Apology
Super teams are generally focused on the future and what lies ahead of them. One cannot drive while looking in the rearview mirror. Few would argue about the importance of historical data, or the value of considering past successes and failures in plotting a course for the future. But once the vehicle is in drive and the “pedal is put to the metal,” a rearview focus almost always assures a deadly catastrophe. There is no doubt that super teams learn from past experiences. In fact, the lack of learning from past experience may be likened to insanity, the act of doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results. Although super teams probably examine past experiences, they do so with a forward-focused perspective. You might say their “eyes are on the prize,” and they don’t apologize for minimizing the past in deference to the future.

Closing Thoughts
Not every team will excel. However, every team can put in place the makings of a super team. Every team can select members that represent excellence for their organization. Every team can work to ensure that all its members are contributing at peak levels of performance. Every team can encourage its members to give their “first fruit” to the team’s mission, vision, and direction, making the team’s goal a priority. Every team can refuse to dwell on past successes or failures, but make the next thought, the next action, the next goal, and the next victory all there is and all that matters.