A Successful Team and the Duality Factor

I was always concerned with small group dynamics and focused my PhD on team success. This communication of experiences highlights my endeavor to acquire knowledge by reading over 1000 academic articles and over 150 books in the past five years. Furthermore, the information discussed is a testament of observations from sports teams, businesses, and presentations by former special military units commanders regarding the efficiency and effectiveness of teams. On a practical level, I have been blessed to create and be part of championship teams in sports and business, and was able to assess similarities and differences, which in turn produced inquires and vital questions regarding the Duality Factor of success and happiness.

The question then becomes how do you create a team that is both successful and happy and how do you build the Duality Factor. It is imperative then to address two main questions: (a) Does success also means happiness? and (b) Is there a panacea to address the Duality Factor? In many cases teams or organizations are not concerned with the happiness of all team members when a team is winning. A winning team in sports tends to pay less attention to the post game video than to a loosing one simply because in most cases this is human nature. The problem then becomes that this human reaction could potentially be devastating for the future performance of the team and consequently for the organization. The reason is very simple; "it is easier to get to the top than to remain there."

Does success also mean happiness?

According to Aristotle for a person to be successful he/she has to possess the three crucial life parameters.

• Happiness, which is a product of a person satisfied with his/her condition. Happiness can include wealth without having wealth as the sole element of happiness. For the ancient philosophers wealth was a blessing and a curse that could potentially lead to greed, a vice that could destroy the other two life parameters that were essential to success.
• Virtue, which for the ancient Greeks was "excellence in ethos" was pivotal to the happiness of people but also to the development of the individual. The deeper meaning of virtue was being understanding and empathic to others and lead a life based on high ethical standards. Virtue could also lead to understanding, socio-emotional stability, learning, and knowledge imperative to reason and to any person seeking to evolve and succeed.
• Eudaimonia (Eudaemonia), the equivalent to continuous flourishing of a human being. Evolving was vitally important to success since it is inextricably connected to innovation, creation of ideas, development of self and others. Eudaimonia for the Stoics eventually leads to wisdom, which in our time is theory put to practice.

I will agree with Aristotle-and I am sure he is thrilled-that happiness can be a part of success of at least most members of a winning team but not an automatic reaction of a team member to a victorious outcome. The answer to the question is that success does not equate to happiness. The team has to reach a high level of maturity that even the least contributing member can feel that has a big part in the success of the team. However, Aristotle's model of Success is extremely useful to the understanding of human beings and their socio-emotional needs. A model, especially useful if the concepts are applied for the purpose of successful team building that goes beyond the simplicities of extrinsic motivation or psychological surveys, which are useful tools nonetheless, they tend to only assess work environment from an utterly mechanical perspective. Moreover, this model of success leads to a deeper understanding of action that an organization has to undertake to address the work environment and can alter a team, build a winning team but more importantly sustain it.

Is there a panacea to address the Duality Factor?

Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman wrote an excellent book using data from the Gallup Foundation that was titled: "First Break All the Rules." In this book companies from different domains prove that using different strategies that defy the Golden Rule become extremely successful and profitable simply because they innovate in their approach. The answer to addressing the Duality Factor is not a panacea but it does share certain elements that can be utilized to create a methodology or an approach that could both increase happiness within team members and the success of a team. Some of the elements observed are described.

• Mental Approach. Start by making the team first to believe in your authenticity and plan and then discuss the roles and particulars. Pat Summit, the late coach, has stated that "your players don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." Anybody who trusts that you care about them will return this trust rather than take advantage of it, especially when that is clarified during the process.
• Trust First. It is a fruitless effort to have respect because of a title, since it leads to a vicious cycle of mistrust and becomes a trap where both parties wait for the mistake. Trust is an equal to empowerment and provides self-worth to team members and a clear statement that as long as trust is not betrayed respect is natural outcome.

• Loyalty. A long lost word in todays world where everything goes to the higher bidder. However, this is a natural outcome of a lack of mental approach, lack of trust and eventually lack of loyalty by executives, managers, and organizations. Any leader leads by example and the example seems to be missing in todays world where loyalty has become a 'thing' of the past. The cookie cutter approaches on gaining loyalty are a dime a dozen but the creation of a winning environment that can generate a legacy is essentially thinking outside the box by addressing the Why's as Simon Sinek suggested. Loyalty occurs when leaders fabricate a climate of affinity, attachment and trust. Loyalty originates from the product and the product in this case is YOU.

The approach presented is merely the basis of ideas for using the Duality Factor of happiness and success in teams. There are many techniques to build an environment that promotes the sense of loyalty and empowerment as it's focal point. The idea always is that members should reveal their personality through the team and that a successful team is built by great individuals. This methodology is anthropocentric and aims to stimulate empathy within team members by using the exchange of ideas in Coffee Moments, Authentic Dialogues over the Who Needs What (WNW) approach. This approach's sole purpose is to strengthen the relationships and build the foundation for further success of the individuals by utilizing the Aristotelian Model of Success with Happiness, Virtue, and Eudaimonia as a training tool. This model generates an environment where happy individuals, strengthened by ethical ties, evolve as team members and as human beings.