Teams Winning Gloriously

As you all know the focus of my business is primarily around creating successful teams.

In recent weeks the whole discussion around teams has come to the fore in sport, particularly in Europe. I’m not saying this is new but I do find it interesting how much more focus the importance of team, over the individual, is getting.

Look at the success of Leicester City winning the Premiership in England - hailed as the epitome of the whole being greater than the sum of the individual parts. Here, there were no superstars, indeed some were even rejects from other clubs, yet over the long haul of a season beat their much wealthier and higher paid competitors.

During the recent European Championships, the winners were Portugal, who with the exception of one or two players, are far from a bunch of superstars in their own right.

In fact, it was the teams from Wales and Iceland who got so much publicity for outperforming expectations - again, it was about teamwork.

In rugby, we have seen the impact of England’s new coach, Eddie Jones, who has taken pretty much the same bunch of players who were failing and turned them into a winning team.

Even the other day, in tennis, which is such an individual sport you had Andy Murray, this year’s Wimbledon winner, acknowledge the contribution of his team.

Why then, in business, when we talk about performance reviews, our focus is almost exclusively on the individual?

I’m not suggesting we ignore the individual, but what I am saying is - how much time are we investing in creating that real team spirit?

What are you doing this week to make your team a stronger, unified group? If nothing, don’t you think you should? The answer is obviously yes - if you want to be a winner!!