By Bruce Piasecki
Over the past few months, sports fans around the world have watched the downfall of the most celebrated cyclist of all time: Lance Armstrong. Just recently, his televised confession interview with Oprah Winfrey—where he admitted to doping, using blood transfusions, and more—riveted the public. But what interests me most about the Armstrong story are the lessons it offers the business world about the nature of teams.
Over the years I’ve come to realize a truth that has permeated every aspect of my work and my life. The team is more powerful than the individual. Teams expand the human experience. They extend our wings in practical, pragmatic, and measurable ways. People who would not normally be able to succeed alone—the planners, the doers, those who lack the internal spark to market themselves—can reap the benefits of success in the context of teams.
Yet many teams have a dark side. When these darker impulses are allowed to eclipse the joyful transcendence that teamwork can bring, great harm can result. Evil deeds flourish. People get hurt. Lance Armstrong is just one very dramatic and very visible example of what can go wrong with teams.
Dynamics play out on the courts of the business world every day, and when teams are well constructed with the right mix of talents and personalities—and well governed by leaders who recognize the most important capabilities in their people and facilitate them for the good of all—organizations achieve, grow, and prosper. Yet when the dark side takes over, we see Enrons, WorldComs, Madoffs and Armstrongs. Here are seven lessons association and nonprofit leaders would do well to heed:
Fierce individualism has no place in teams. Just the fact that we think of Lance Armstrong’s teams as “Lance Armstrong’s teams” speaks volumes. It was as if Armstrong’s entire team (Team RadioShack being the most recent) was there only for him. When we pin all of our hopes on an individual, we are doomed to be disappointed. This is because youth and ability have a way of fading over time. Youthful arrogance, due to its fleeting nature, is no foundation on which to build a future. We need the shoulder strength of teams to keep us competent.
As leaders, we need to be sure that the MVP syndrome is not allowed to define our teams. Be always on the alert for individuals who might be losing sight of the team that gave them an identity—the group with whom they worked to produce the fame for which they are now known. It is in such situations that workplace ills such as favoritism, sexism, and even criminal activity like embezzlement tend to flourish.
Seek to hire coachable individuals rather than individualist-minded high performers. Do everything possible to promote and reward teamwork rather than individualism. Seek always to send the signal that it’s strong teams (not strong individuals), working toward the organization’s mission, that make up a strong association.
MVPs must not be allowed to dictate to or pressure teammates. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency report made it clear that Armstrong was driving the doping culture of his team. You cannot do more with teams in an atmosphere of intimidation, deception, and contract pressures. You cannot ride into victory more than average with that much weight of secrecy on your mind. You cannot make friends victims as you claim victory. This all goes against the magic of teams.
We must be careful not to give victors the benefit of the doubt. In all teams, there is an inherent desire to protect our superstars and keep them winning. (Never mind all the others whose quieter, though no less critical, contributions are downplayed.) Armstrong was able to perpetrate his deceptions thanks to, as the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency report states, “the help of a small army of enablers, including doping doctors, drug smugglers, and others within and outside the sport and on his own team.”
We are all aware of conditions when everyone else was willing to go along with a wrong. We recall instances in recent history where the politics of fear enabled the Nazis, and where embezzlement seemed the norm. Yet it is harder to see when victory shines so bright. Leaders must be mindful of this very human tendency, in themselves and in others, to look the other way, to give our victors the benefit of the doubt. We must be vigilant and ever alert to wrongdoing. We must be willing to ferret out corruption in the highest echelons, to bench the MVP, even to fire the superstar for the good of the team and the sake of integrity.
Ceaseless victory is a fantasy. Teams must keep a healthy sense of perspective. Lance Armstrong became a larger-than-life figure because he kept winning races. He was addicted to victory—felt entitled to it, even—and this is what drove him to drive his team to illicit extremes. In the end, it was this addiction (to ceaseless victory, not to drugs) that became his undoing. The lesson is clear: When we don’t learn to tolerate failure, we will do anything to keep the public adulation coming.
I believe if others had taught Armstrong where the tolerance of losing is mixed with the pleasure of knowing we have tried our best, he would have proven a more dependable competitor. The great CEOs, the well-compensated doctors, the best in hospital administrators, and the legendary leaders of colleges are not people known to expect ceaseless victory. They are great competitors because they come to accept that we cannot always win. (Indeed, only through loss can we grow and improve.)
Leaders must instill in teams this tolerance of losing. In word and deed we must convey that failure is a part of life and thus a part of business. We must model this truth by allowing our own weaknesses, flaws, and vulnerabilities to show. We must refrain from punishing teams who give it their best shot yet fall short of victory. And after a defeat, we must insist that employees get back on the horse and ride full-tilt toward the next contest. In this way, the pain of loss will naturally dissipate.
Great teams revel in the pleasure of persistence and the sheer thrill of striving. Presumably, Lance Armstrong and his teams could be satisfied only with an unbroken string of victories. But where else is satisfaction to be found? Once we’ve accepted that defeat is a part of the journey, there is great fun—yes, fun—in knowing that we will stumble and fall from time to time, yet get up, and try again, with some success. Another way to say it is this: Accepting the reality of our imperfection takes the pressure off. Then, and only then, do we free ourselves to feel the pleasure of persistence and the sheer thrill of striving. It’s critical to teach teams to be well prepared for assignments and to keep going in spite of hardship.
What makes teams successful is a sense of commonality, shared values, integrity, and a commitment to one another. In preparing for a team event, or in becoming a member of a team, a transformation occurs where team members end their individual associations and create a team identity through sharing with others the experience of that process. Once the team is created, a strong bond is already in place from that preparation, from the obstacles everyone had to overcome to get there.
When joining the military, everyone has a crucible, basic training, which really isn’t basic at all and is usually the hardest experience to get through. The crucible is something all members have to overcome to be part of the team. They shave all the soldiers’ heads to take away their individual designations and rebuild them as team members, reshape their identities into a shared identity.
We have many ways to create bonding experiences in our organizations. There is nothing wrong with off-site team-building events or weekly social gatherings—the more people are together the better they get to know each other—but there is no substitute for real-world work. Bring people together often so they can share their progress, brainstorm ideas to keep projects moving, and generate the synergy needed to move from being a collection of individuals to becoming an interconnected, mutually dependent team. Great teams mourn losses together. They celebrate success together. Always, they share information and hold themselves accountable to the team.
The right captains can help us build teams strong enough to withstand the dark side. It takes a certain type of leader to create not just a loose affiliation of fierce individualists but a true team. My definition of a captain is someone who can rapidly recognize the key capabilities of their team members. They are able to see the capacity for harm and evil and quickly disarm it (as opposed to Lance Armstrong, who allowed it to flourish and even promoted it). On the other hand, captains recognize the capacity for generosity and quickly put it to use in building up other team members and generating momentum. In this way they build teams that balance the negatives in each member, making a stronger and better core. Captains also treat their team members with a kind of fierce immediacy, and they achieve team coherence and team integrity in the process.
So, keeping teams safely away from the dark side begins with ensuring that the right captains are at the helm. Invest in your captains. Choose them well and use them wisely. Give them authority to align and make accountable those capable of evil, harm, and generosity. They will bring the results and the profits you are looking for—and along the way they will empower your people to extend their wings and soar in the magic that only teams can generate.
Bruce Piasecki is the author of several books, including the upcoming Doing More with Teams: The New Way to Winning and president and founder of AHC Group, Inc., a management consulting firm. He can be reached through his website at www.brucepiasecki.com.