{"id":25484,"date":"2022-11-01T11:53:31","date_gmt":"2022-11-01T11:53:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wealinternational.com.br\/?p=25484"},"modified":"2022-11-17T11:54:43","modified_gmt":"2022-11-17T11:54:43","slug":"from-a-team-of-stars-to-a-star-team-by-ina-toegel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wealinternational.com.br\/en\/from-a-team-of-stars-to-a-star-team-by-ina-toegel\/","title":{"rendered":"From a team of stars to a star team (by Ina Toegel)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Developing a shared identity, giving each member equal <\/span>airtime<\/span> and creating an environment for honest and authentic exchanges will help lead to better results<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

When Phil Jackson took over as head coach of the <\/span>Chicago Bulls<\/span><\/a> in 1989, he realized he couldn\u2019t rely on star player Michael Jordan alone to win the National Basketball Association championships.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jackson implemented the triangle offense devised by the Bulls\u2019 assistant coach at the time, Tex Winter. The strategy involved taking the ball out of Jordan\u2019s hands a bit more often \u2013 a proposal that at first was met\u00a0 with resistance from the team\u2019s star player.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Chicago Bulls made it to the <\/span>finals against the LA Lakers in 1991<\/span><\/a>. In the fifth game, the two teams were level pegging before the final quarter. Jackson took the team aside in the break and reminded Jordan that he didn\u2019t have to shoot every hoop.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When play resumed, Jordan won the ball and penetrated through the defence. Everyone was expecting Jordan to charge through and make a shot. Instead, he passed to his teammate John Paxson, who shot the ball and scored.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOnce Pax hits that first shot, I think, okay, let\u2019s keep doing that again,\u201d explained Jordan in the 2020 Netflix documentary <\/span>The Last Dance<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By taming Jordan\u2019s ego and making him understand that his teammates could help him out, Jackson created a more dangerous and unpredictable unit which enabled the Chicago Bulls to win three championships between 1991 and 1993, and repeat the feat again from 1996 to 1998.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the business world, your star team is often your executive board: a group of high-performing leaders each of whom has risen through the ranks by proving their mettle in driving execution, building and leading teams, and crafting vision and strategy.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The downside is that each person\u2019s success is often matched by the size of their ego. Having climbed the ladder by outperforming others, many top executives may view their teammates as competitors rather than collaborators. To shift this mindset, organizations should consider the following steps to leverage the strengths of each individual and create a stronger top team.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Avoid the Most Valuable Player trap<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Repeatedly rewarding and glorifying a star performer can be the early death of a team. Instead, organizations need to figure out how to encourage that player to sprinkle some of his or her star dust on others. As soon as Michael Jordan realized he couldn\u2019t win the NBA championships single-handedly, he started thinking about how he could help his teammates to excel in their roles. Organizations should take care to praise all those who helped set up the goal, not just the individual who scored it. By championing the collective rather than the individual, you can build a culture of dependability, and one in which team members know they can count on each other to perform at their best and do high-quality work.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Develop a team identity\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

One way to shift the balance away from a team of stars to a star team is to develop a shared team identity \u2013 both among the individuals in the team and one that can be recognized by employees in the wider organization.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rather than relying on the talents of a single leader or personality to take the group forward, different members of the team can assume leadership roles at different times and in different situations. This helps share the burden of leadership, too.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Organizations also need to think about how the executive team presents itself both internally and externally. Too much emphasis on a sole person, such as the CEO, can be counterproductive and make it more likely that the executive team is perceived as a bunch of individuals rather than a high-performing team.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One strategy is to rotate the person who speaks at townhalls and community meetings to give every team member a voice and show a shared responsibility. When sending out company-wide emails from top management, firms should consider using the pronoun \u2018we\u2019 rather than \u2018I\u2019.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Create\u00a0psychological safety\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Another important feature of star teams is the ability to create an environment of psychological safety, where team members feel comfortable taking risks and expressing vulnerability with one another without fear of failure or embarrassment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Under Gareth Southgate, England\u2019s national soccer team has managed to improve its performance, reaching the final of the UEFA Euros 2020 tournament by creating an environment of psychological safety. In an interview with the BBC, Southgate said\u00a0<\/span>he was pleased his players were taking risks and making mistakes<\/a>\u00a0without fear of failure, because it showed they were open to trying new things.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tech giant Google conducted research that found that, in the best-performing teams, team members speak roughly the same amount as each other. This so-called \u2018conversational turn taking\u2019 encourages people to speak up without feeling judged or criticized. Another characteristic is \u2018ostentatious listening\u2019 where team members demonstrate that they have been actively listening by repeating what has been said and making eye contact.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is especially relevant for executive teams, which often suffer from an uneven distribution of airtime. A good start is to commit to conversational turn-taking, agree on what it means, how and in which meetings it will be implemented, and who will keep the team in check when the practice is abandoned.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Put the fish on the table<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Once teams have established psychological safety, they are more likely to be courageous enough to raise and confront difficult issues by \u2018putting the fish on the table\u2019 as my colleague Professor George Kohlrieser says. In top executive teams, this might be the acknowledgement that individuals are in fact competing against each other. <\/span>Having the confidence to say this out loud, however, is an indication that individuals feel comfortable being their honest and authentic selves. It also prevents issues such as suspicion and resentment from festering.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ina Toegel<\/h3>\n

Professor of Leadership and Organizational Change at IMD<\/p>\n

\n

Ina Toegel\u2019s<\/a> research focuses on team dynamics, organizational change management, top management teams during corporate renewal, and founder influence. She directs the Leading High-Performance Teams<\/a> program which supports executives in achieving team flow and transforming a group of individuals into a\u00a0high-performing dream team.<\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/www.imd.org\/ibyimd\/human-resources\/from-a-team-of-stars-to-a-star-team\/?utm_source=DME&utm_medium=em&utm_campaign=DM-Leadership-Nov22&utm_term=DM-Leadership&utm_content=Infosession<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Developing a shared identity, giving each member equal airtime and creating an environment for honest and authentic exchanges will help lead to better results.\u00a0 When Phil Jackson took over as head coach of the Chicago Bulls in 1989, he realized he couldn\u2019t rely on star player Michael Jordan alone to win the National Basketball Association […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,16],"tags":[32,57],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wealinternational.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25484"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wealinternational.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wealinternational.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wealinternational.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wealinternational.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25484"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wealinternational.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25485,"href":"https:\/\/wealinternational.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25484\/revisions\/25485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wealinternational.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wealinternational.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wealinternational.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}