Warning everyone, some sports metaphors ahead. Bear with me if that’s not your thing, as it’s highlighting an important topic!
Smart people know that it’s teams that get things done, not individuals. That’s true no matter how excellent the individual people may be that form the team.
Superstars are often only superstars because of the context they play in, in a different team or setup they can suddenly look very average indeed. Even where someone might seem to transcend a bad fit, there’s almost certainly a better setup where they could excel even more.
It happens all the time when a club player steps up to the national team. Marcus Smith is a standout rugby player when he’s with Harlequins, but lining him up with Owen Farrell in the England setup didn’t work, because the asks, expectations and context are different. Setup the England team using the Harlequin approach with international talent, and you’d get a turbo charged Smith.
Forcing people into the setup doesn’t work. It’s a classic mistake of a coach, and it’s a common mistake of managers too.
Think about your team, what skills do they need, how do they work together. What’s hard, what’s easy.
Look at the options you have available. What are these people’s skills? What will they bring extra or new? How will their strengths compliment the needs of the team?
Then ask yourself how much you are willing to change to get the very best from the person you are bringing in? How long can you give the team to adapt, and how will you support them?
If the answers don’t line up, then no matter how good the person is, they might not be the right choice to make now.
The best teams are not the best set of individuals if those individuals can’t gel together.
Don’t build a team of superstars, build a super-star team.
James Osborn 