What makes a great team

• a daunting challenge or a noble mission

"One of the reasons group goals often fail is they're too materialistic. I look for superordinancy-goals big enough that the whole group can get behind them." Such work has compelling meaning and motivation; working toward somthing monumental deserves everyone's best effort.

 

• Intense group loyalty.

"when extraordinary teams talk about what made them so successful, you often hear them say it's because they really love and care about each other. If people were honest about what makes great teams in an organization, they'd say part of it is the emotional connections that allow both openness and caring."

 

• Diverse range of talents.

The stronger the array of capabilities a team brings to its task, the more flexible it can be in meeting changing demands. Diversity begins with technical demands, but extends also to emotinal competence-including a "glue person."

 

• trust and selfless collaboration.

People in successful teams feel they can count on each other.  He looked for people who could work collaboratively, and encouraged everyone to help out with other people's work. "You could spend forty percent of your time working as 'hands' on somebody else's project."

 

• Focus and passion.

The demands of meeting a great goal inherently provide focus; the rest of life can seem not just mundane, but rivial by comparison.

 

• Work that is intrinsically fun and rewarding.

Such intense focus is in itself a kind of high. Members work less for external perks like money, promotion, or prestige than for the inner rewards of the work itself. Whether that thrill comes from the drive to achive or a need to make an impact, ther is an intense emotional payoff from outdong all others as part of  a group. "There is a big high in here somewhere for me that I don't fully understand... The reason I work is to win."