Team-Building

Playbook of a basketball king

You don’t win, as a coach, more men’s college basketball games than any other coach, without being a phenomenal leader. Duke University coach Mike Krzyzewski is a leader who happens to coach basketball ...

5 metrics to better team-building

Measuring output without measuring input is a little like telling a Little League team to score more runs, without explaining how to swing a bat better. That’s why James Slavet believes great teams should measure five metrics:

At Wegmans, every employee counts

On-the-spot, creative problem-solving is something that Wegmans’ team members are known for. That’s because Weg­­mans gives its talented employees the power to meet customer needs using creativity and flair—and good judgment.

Does your team have the skill set?

Most employees have skills in creativity, collaboration, problem-solving, critical thinking and adaptability. They simply need more. “Brain work is more important than ever,” says Pat Galagan of the American Society for Training and Development.

Reaching that goal, one mile at a time

In 1911, two teams of adventurers were preparing to be the first in modern history to reach the South Pole. The ­leaders of each team were of a similar age and had comparable experience. But one team reached the destination. The other team failed. What made the difference?

Sacred cows: How to herd 'em out

Sacred cows are roaming your hallways. They’re grazing on profits, productivity and patience. To round them up and put them out to pasture, you need to be a constant cow hunter. And you need to get your entire team excited about tumbling those herds.

How the Container Store organizes

After the Container Store opened its first store in Houston, chief executive Kip Tindell unveiled the company’s “Foundation Principles.” Tindell dipped into a file of “best thoughts” he’d been gathering for years, searching for the ones that best defined his ideal of doing business. Lesson: Lay down your own foundation principles to help employees act as a unit working toward the same ends.

Encourage staff to share what they know

A study published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior points out that companies investing in knowledge-transfer software aren’t seeing much improvement in their information flow. One reason: Employees simply won’t share what they know. Keep information flowing in your corridors with these tactics:

Collaborate like Edison

Author Sarah Miller Caldicott, great-grandniece of the inventor, is working on a second book about Thomas Edison’s collaboration methods. Edison believed in collaboration not only as a way of accelerating the innovation process, but to expand the solution set, Caldicott says. He liked to create diverse groups of people from diverse disciplines.

NASCAR's take on teamwork

The 2001 Daytona 500 stands out as an important date for NASCAR fans because it marked the death of Dale Earnhardt Sr., “The Intimidator,” in the black-and-red No. 3 car. But that race also introduced an important new twist to NASCAR: working together by locking the team’s three cars up front.


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