"Avengers, assemble!" : How Nick Fury created a High-Performing team with all Star Performers

COVID is helping me brush up on cinematic marvels (pun intended) and nudging me to see them in a different light. After the umpteenth watching of Black Panther and Endgame, I started seeing parallels between a cast of heroes looking to save the world and a team of young, enthusiastic individuals looking to solve the next big problem. When you look back at the trajectory of the Avengers, you can see parallels in team formation dynamics, coaching, collaboration and flat hierarchical structures start to work organically. Of course, that's fiction and this is real life, but the one key lesson I wanted to share is how companies can learn how to build a High Performing team, assuming ALL your players are star performers in some way or the other. Conventional wisdom keeps telling us that you can't have too many strong performers/A-list individuals on a team, otherwise it devolves into a clash of egos. So how did Nick Fury do it? How did he select, train and encourage the formation of a coalition that brings all of their skills to the table and doesn't kill each other at the same time?

It starts with Diversity - each superhero brings a very unique and different skillset. Aside from skillset, they also bring a unique set of life experiences and way of thinking that is the true diversity - that's what is needed in a crunch situation, to have people bring different opinions and challenge the status quo. Focus on not just what your people know, but where they know it from and how they know it.

Focus on purpose and team building - the challenge with bringing together All Stars is that their egos sometimes might not fit in the room. But that's no reason not to do this! Rightly so, they may be proud of their previous work and may have even stood out from the rest with their skills and abilities. Fury brought them together and made it clear right from the start that now they were the Avengers - no longer just Iron Man, or the Hulk, or Captain America. Their individual identities gave way to a collective one here, and they were brought together for a purpose - to save the Earth. When you create a high performing team, give them a purpose and work intentionally to build a team. That doesn't mean can't bring their individual selves to the table - but it should always be secondary to the team and the company.

Build a vision and then get the hell out of the way - could Fury tell Thor how to hold his hammer, or "highly recommend" to Iron Man what gadgets to make? To build and sustain a high performing team, the team leader or manager needs to know when to get involved and when to step back. We see Fury present in the first few movies as he still intervenes to resolve conflicts, remind the Avengers of their mission and purpose and clear a few roadblocks. As the movies progress, he is seen less and less, relying on the Avengers and their skills to figure things out. Build a great team and get out of their way! During Endgame, the final installment of the series, the Avengers took on their most audacious challenge yet, seemingly knowing that Fury had disappeared/been killed. Keeping a team and the culture going even when the leader who made it so has left is a key criteria of a high performing team.

Allow them to fight it out (quite literally!) sometimes. When you put so many skills, personalities, egos and histories together, something is bound to erupt. And it should. Underlying tensions and pressures in a team should never simmer beneath the surface. It's best to let it out - this also helps create a bonding experience, as counterintuitive as it sounds, and puts all the cards on the table. Multiple Avengers have had internal scuffles and longer fights, like Iron Man and Captain America, when they fought over ethics, purpose and how to do things. These challenges will come up in a team of predominantly alphas. This is where the rest of the team needs to intervene, help diffuse the situation - and sometimes let the best person for the job fight it out and win.

Be their wall and have their back. High performers are high performers for a reason - they go big or go home. They take risks. They challenge the status quo. They push the boundaries. And not everyone is going to like it, agree with it or appreciate it. As a leaders of such a team, you need to trust the recommendations they make even if they seem outrageous at first. If the only reason to not do it is "it's never been done before", that's reason enough to go ahead. Your team needs to trust that you trust them. And sometimes that means going against even higher leadership and standing up for your team, as well as taking the fall for any fallout and mess made. Be their first line of defense and show them that they have your support. As Nick Fury told world leaders, "I recognize the council has made its decision, but given that it's a stupid-a** decision, I've elected to ignore it."

Building High Performing teams is an exciting and incredibly eye-opening opportunity, not just for the team but for yourself as a leader to see how you can build, coach and guide for great performance. That's a great and valuable skill in and of itself. Remember, the Avengers wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for Nick Fury's idea of spotting talent and bringing it together!