Given the premiership has just kicked off all the top teams are hoping for great things from their top talent. Does this strategy work? Remember Fernando Torres? Does the world of football have any lessons for business?
Buying a success story is great, but research by MIT suggests that hiring a star can be risky, not only to the individual’s subsequent performance, but also the morale and productivity of veteran employees. Other research shows that star performers can also positively impact the performance of colleagues. I think the smart thing to do is to create an environment where the whole team can thrive, whether they are wunderkind or workhorse.
No team is solely dependent on the talent’s individual skills because culture, access to resources, and a collaborative environment are all important. Adding new talent to the line-up doesn’t always bring the results that managers hope for. Talent, application and luck are best combined in a well-structured and supportive environment, a huge factor in real success is how the team works together.
Culture and environment
It’s most noticeable in sport but occurs in other settings too, when a star performer moves to a new team they may stumble in finding their winning streak again. An article by Groysberg and Lee in the Harvard Business Review says “For managers, it is imperative to understand that stars are not self-contained silos. Producing top-quality knowledge work requires collaboration and flows of information among a network of top performers.” We assume success is due to the individual but it’s more likely to be a function of the environment in which a star operates, or dare, I say, just being in the right place at the right time.
I have long advocated that growing your own talent is more likely to generate success. To do this you need leaders who create an environment where it is easy to develop a career rather than having to move on in order to grow. These are leaders with a long term view of talent, who nurture high-performers, not just for the role they are currently in, but for the overall health of the business. In my experience this sort of thinking is not common.
If an employee believes the organisation prioritises, values, and rewards learning, they are more likely to have high levels of engagement, which drives retention and enhanced organisational performance. There are clear bottom line business benefits for organisations with effective employee career development strategies in place. The end game is the development of an energised team of leaders and learners with a growth-mindset deployed in the service of collective goals.
Building a top team
Paul White, a US-based psychologist, specialising in workplace culture says “Think about any curve, and most people are somewhere in the middle, most employees are average, and that’s a good thing.” Forward-thinking leaders embrace the idea of “cultural add” whereby they hire individuals whose unique perspectives and strengths complement and enhance the team dynamic, in a shared cultural framework, thus leveraging the best from all parties in terms of innovation and cohesion.
A good leader brings out the best in his people, be they a star or foot soldier. One of my favourite speakers, Damian Hughes, says “They create an environment in which people feel safe enough to ask questions and admit they don’t know everything. That’s where the real coaching work begins because people are exposing a gap in their knowledge and are looking for a leader to help them fill that gap.”
A team is more than the sum of its parts, and good leadership, like good coaching, is about creating a winning environment – recruiting, developing and nurturing talent, communicating a shared vision and delivering on stakeholder expectations while overcoming significant challenges, handling pressure and staying focused.
