This past week I interviewed Andy Boynton for my radio show The Time is Now! Business Solutions with Michelle Y. Drake on WXCT 990. Andy is the Dean of Boston College–Carroll School of Management and co-author of the book Virtuoso Teams. We spoke about everything from sports to kids, working in Europe (He taught in Switzerland at IMD) and USA, the difference between working with executives and college students–and the difference between working with male executives and female executives. Hey girls, he thinks we have better skills to lead teams than our male counterparts!
In a lot of books on teams we hear about the importance of “we” in order to create collaborative teams. Andy and co-author Bill believe that the brilliant “I” is more important to teams than the watered down collaborative “we”.
I was stunned; finally someone said it out loud! I applaud this particular point! I have long felt that in an effort to make everyone “feel good” on our teams we are downplaying talent so that the mediocre players will feel better about themselves, usually at the expense of the outcome of a project. Putting together the best and the brightest creates a climate of high performance…if they are all “sold” on the vision or goal of the team they bring creativity, confidence and a passion for excellence that elevates the team’s outcome.
Sure, they might be a bit hard to manage, kind of like herding cats. Most incredibly strong individuals are used to leading. These types of teams demand strong, visionary leaders with excellent communication skills and charismatic personalities who almost border on arrogant to handle domineering team members. Most extremely talented individuals know that they are not defined by one idea or approach. They may believe that their approach is best, but are confident to listen to other perspectives in order to be part of a winning project. Allowing them to discuss and challenge each other then defend their own opinion will bring a climate of creativity that will produce amazing results.
In Virtuoso Teams Andy and his co-author Bill Fischer introduce the reader to a variety of non-corporate teams throughout history that produced amazing commercial projects with strong “virtuoso teams”. As I read the book in, preparation for my interview, I was introduced to teams working with Thomas Edison and Sid Cesar and working on West Side Story and The Manhattan Project, to name a few. I then got to take a peek into the day-to-day of how these teams functioned and thrived. I then was questioned about myself as a leader in my organization.
Virtuoso Teams was a powerful read that I would highly recommend if you are an executive or entrepreneur that leads teams. So, if you are brave enough to assemble a high performance team and are looking to have a profound impact on your business or industry with your team’s outcome then take some lessons from Virtuoso Teams.
Click to listen to my interview with Andy Boynton.
Posted on Sep 8th 06 by Michelle Drake.
Michelle hosts a weekly talk-radio show focused on business solutions and is President of The Cove Group, Inc. (a management consulting firm). She has coached scientists to professional athletes and entrepreneurs to artists on how to improve their communication in the workplace and at home resulting in advancement of careers, improved leadership skills, more effective teams and deeper relationships. http://michelleydrake.com
Other posts on Coachamatic by Michelle Drake.
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