The Secret Recipe For Building Rock Star Teams

What Would Vince Lombardi say?

"Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while… you don’t do things right once in a while… you do them right all the time. Winning is habit."

The Secret Recipe...

You’re wanting to build a world-class high-performance team? There’s no prescriptive way, but there’s a few things you definitely want to ensure you’re doing. First, make rewards and recognition visible. Second, share the responsibilities with the team. Make sure everyone has “skin in the game” by making sure everyone has a stake in the success/failure of the output of the products you are building. Third, set clear goals each quarter. One year is too long and too large. Agility is being realistic about the next 3 months ahead. Also make sure “swim lanes” are clear and everyone knows their job duty and ensure there’s as little overlap as possible. Lastly, be transparent and foster the culture of knowledge transfers. If your processes are tribal knowledge and complicated and hard to understand, good luck being successful when you onboard new employees/contractors. I’ve worked for some major brands and helps make cookie cutter processes. I’ve also worked for companies that had a overly complex 101 step Soufflé recipe that could have been accomplished the same output by breaking a few eggs.  

So where did I get my experience from? Glad you asked. 

Hard Work

Raised on a farm, I watched my grandfather work from sun up to sun down tilling the land with his combine during harvest. He took pride in cleaning his machine and working a “good day’s work.” Farmers are independent and self-directed. They feel a sense of achievement and personal success by demonstrating competence of their craft. There’s also traditions of admitting what you don’t know by learning to be a good ‘apprentice’ which builds respect in their circle and small community.  

• Lesson: figure out who your senior craftsmen are on your team. Are they dispelling knowledge to your apprentices? If not, it’s time for some lunch & learns.

US Marine Corps

The Marine Corps taught me among other things the different social intelligence. Learn whom your team members are and their story. As Marines, we struggle through a grueling “Crucible” together to end up at the top of a mountain realizing everyone’s strengths and weaknesses including our own. You really don’t know someone until you see them under pressure. Through that journey of our crucible, the officers teach us the “Marine 12 leadership traits” (Judgement, Dependability, Initiative, Integrity, Courage, Loyalty, and Enthusiasm to name a few). 

• Lesson: Pressure test your teams to understand the social dynamics of each member on your team. Also when is the last time you did anything together as a small group? 

Aerospace

I started my career after college in the Aerospace industry, specifically building satellites for the government’s alphabet soup involving some highly classified programs. That small group of people that are trusted with secrets ends up to be a very small group of professionals. That privilege alone creates a tight family.  That small family of friends account for 50% of the people I keep in touch with today. 

• Lesson: create tight families at work by investing in more 1:1’s not talking about work, but instead anything except work. Really invest in getting to know someone. What's their relevant life experience?

Apple Pay to Games to Mobile Development

I was there while Steve was alive, and there was a general sentiment that everyone felt, ‘do your very best work.’ Why? Everyone felt like Steve was watching your Program specifically, and god willing there was an issue. People brought a sense of pride and commitment to their work because they felt their leadership cared about the end result.

• Lesson: Somehow slip some principles of Total Quality Management and 6 Sigma into your team’s culture. Six Sigma aims to reduce defects and anything that undermines customer loyalty. TQM’s principle is that every member of the team must be committed to high standards of work and every aspect of the company’s operations.

A Good Sense of Humor

Seems like a no brainer right? However, I can’t recount how many times I’ve been in a tough meeting and just wished there was someone that would ease tension. Most times that person was me, although it wasn’t always seen as a positive. Thankfully, now I work for someone who's got just as good of sense of humor as I do! My motto: we all have 1 life to live; might as well try to enjoy it.

• Lesson: Make sure you have someone on speed dial that can make you laugh when times get tough. Also, take a pulse of your team. Are they able to laugh and joke freely with one another in meetings? If not, are your meetings too formal? Maybe try lightening up the mood.

Games Bring Out the Fun In All Of Us

When I worked for Electronic Arts: makers of Madden Football, FIFA, The Sims, Star Wars Battlefront, and Plants vs Zombies to name a few. They made sure every employee understood their organizational values. Some really stuck with me and I’ve always rehearsed them to my teams: 1) Be Human; 2) Learn and Grown; 3) Play As One. While it’s not surprising that while I consulted for some major brands, one of the first pieces of organizational assets I’d try finding was the company’s values. Sadly, most times I couldn't find any to be had.

• Lesson: if you want to build Rock Star teams, you’ve got to lay out your recipe of values. Ask yourself what are the 5-7 ingredients you want your teams living by? How can you ensure those values are followed, and apart of your company’s DNA?