How to build a turniermannschaft

The German language is amazing as it often has specific words which other languages require entire sentences to describe.?Let me give you a couple of examples:

• Torschlusspanik?- the feeling of urgency to accomplish an action before some imaginary gate closes and “it’s all too late.”?It’s mostly used for those who sense their biological clock is running out and feel the need to settle with a partner or have children immediately.
• Verschlimmbesserung - unintentionally making things worse in the process of trying to improve them.
• Freundschaftsdienst- those moments when your friend is going through a rough time and you stop everything you’re doing and take them out or show up at their door because it’s the right thing to do, and you know they’d do the same for you – “friendship service”

Turniermannschaft is literally translated as a ‘tournament squad’ but is used to describe a sports team that may have only just qualified for a tournament by the skin of their teeth….they may not have the greatest talent….but during a tournament they come together as a team, continue to improve, and peak at just the right time to win the tournament (or at least exceed expectations).?There are so many examples of this in the sports world - the NY Giants beating the undefeated Patriots in the 2008 Superbowl after just squeaking into the playoffs in wildcard spot.?I was also reminded of a couple of tournament teams in the most recent World Cup – France exceeded all expectations given the injuries to so many of their starters….Morocco made the semi-finals despite having a starting lineup that even the most dedicated soccer fan could only name one or two players.?There are also anti-turniermannschafts…..teams that may have the best talent on paper but significantly underperformed (I’m looking at you - Belgium, Spain & Germany to name a couple).?To quote the football manager Brian Clough “We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass.”

As you plan out your next couple of months, I want you to think about your team and your level of talent.?Do you have a team of rockstars, a mixture of A, B and C players, or a group that are as ‘useful as a chocolate teapot’??In the near term, it is often difficult/impossible to change team members out but if you can engage, connect, and motivate your team to bring out their best, you can create a turniermannschaft and exceed expectations.?Five suggestions on how to approach this:

1. Set a Goldilocks Goal – How did Goldilocks like her porridge??‘Not too hot…not too cold’.?Similarly, you need to set a meaningful goal that is not too impossible…not too achievable….not too long-term…..not too short term.?Long-term goals like regulatory filings that are many years away are not helpful for motivating a team for a near-term sprint.?We have all seen teams rally around a goal that is several months away – much longer than that and you will lose momentum.?Goals that your team know are impossible to attain or will be accomplished very easily are also worthless.?Keep it simple….communicate it daily…..and ideally keep it patient-centered if you are working in pharma.
2. Wildly Celebrate the Interim Milestones – Have you seen teams at the World Cup celebrating getting out of the group stages or winning the first knockout game??These are world-class professionals who take the time to recognize that they accomplished a critical interim goal. ?In many cases, they were expected to have accomplished that goal, but had they failed it would have truly set them back. ?Celebrating milestones motivates team members, reinforces how you work together, and demonstrates to other teams or groups that great progress is being made.?Celebrate the team accomplishment, highlight individual contributions and pivot to the next critical interim milestone.?
3. Be Creative on Roles – If a professional sports team has a bad goalkeeper, they buy a better goalkeeper during the next transfer window.?In international tournaments like the World Cup, you must play with the players born in that country and do the best with what you have.?Similarly, for many of your near-term goals you may not be able to upgrade key individuals on your team, but you can be clear with others that you need them to play different or expanded roles on this team for this project.?Every team has heterogeneous talent, but the best leaders can compensate for that by stretching strong performers and asking others to play different roles than they would usually perform.?Be clear on the roles you need people to step up and recognize that it may be outside of their day-to-day responsibilities for this project.?Equally important, let everyone know the roles people are playing on this project as there is no time for confusion.?You are setting the right working arrangement for this project, not redefining SOPs for generations.?
4. Make the Implicit, Explicit – All teams benefit from more clearly articulating and documenting their ways of working.?The mistake that some leaders make is to de-prioritize this activity because ‘we don’t have time on this project and need to start working’.?It is even more critical that you spend time up front outlining the ways of working that this team will align on for this project – spending a couple of hours up front will save countless days of confusion, frustration, and churn throughout the project.?Set explicit ways of working for your team – roles, meeting cadence, escalation approach, issue resolution, etc.?And document them!?
5. Over-Communicate – When faced with near-term critical milestones, some teams make the mistake of cancelling update/status meetings through the well-meaning view of ‘’freeing people up to do work’.?Now, I am not advocating for filling you day with pointless meetings or sending out massive daily status reports, but short, frequent communications ensure escalations are near real-time, roles/priorities are completely clear, and appropriate milestones are celebrated.?Daily huddles or daily summary notes take significant effort to do effectively and ensure they are useful to the team – either do this yourself or find someone on your team who is EXCELLENT at running these type of meetings.?

Let me know how else you engage, motivate, and drive your teams forward to over-achieve on near-term goals with YOUR tournament team!