Masterful Teambuilding Makes Winning Teams
Successful teambuilding is like coaching a championship basketball team. You have to understand each player’s position and the level of skill they bring to the game.
You also have to hone in on the quirks and idiosyncrasies of temperament and personality that shape how each individual player uses their skills.
Who’s the point guard on your team? The detail-oriented analyst who passes and handles the ball strategically? Who’s the engine that drives the team’s offensive machinery? You know the guy–he’s consistently conscientious and dominant. So how do you bring out the best in your Stephen Curry?
Teambuilding is all about the team, but everyone knows that most winning teams have at least one guy who is more self-focused. He’s a tremendous shooting guard, but he only wants to touch the ball if he can shoot it. He may be more high maintenance than his teammates, but if he delivers like Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan who’s going to complain?
Do you recognize your one go-to guy who always keeps his head under pressure? He’s an all-purpose player handling and shooting the ball in and out of the paint. Have you conveyed your appreciation for how fully supportive and reliable he is? Most of his teammates probably value how generous he is with the ball. Do you? Have you validated your Kevin Durant recently?
Teambuilding means creating cohesion between the other players and a power forward like LeBron James who catches, passes, and shoots in the paint. He is quick both defensively and offensively, but he may be such a dominant presence that other players feel overshadowed and undervalued.
Centers like Shaquille O’Neal are towering giants who work magic in the paint right under the net with the grace of a ballet dancer. They pivot and post–dunks, hooks, and short jumpers. Is your magic-man so dominant that the rest of the team feels invisible?
Teambuilding requires developing a game plan before you hit the court–before the production deadlines are set in stone. When there’s a downturn, it means digging deep inside yourself to find that core of strength, conviction, and determination that can help you and the rest of the team rally, reboot, and reset your goals.
It means accepting those quirks of personality in yourself so that you can be more accepting, tolerant, and supportive of your underlings as they struggle to improve. It’s not just being the head of the team–it’s being a real part of it. It’s realizing that every time you point one finger at them, four of your fingers are pointed right back at you.
