Is your top team in tip-top shape?

—Alex and Axel

November 2025

The success of the 1992 US men’s Olympic basketball team is one for the books. But it didn’t start that way. In fact, during the first month of practice, the “Dream Team” lost a scrimmage to a group of college players. Turns out, even the best players can fall short when they don’t work as a team. Organizations are no different. So how does a company turn a team of all-stars into an all-star team?
 
Composing the team is job number one. The group should have enough people to avoid a lack of diversity and bandwidth but be small enough to prevent the formation of divisive subteams. Leaders should then weigh the complementary skills and attitudes that each member brings to the table.

The next step is shaping the team’s dynamics, which involves three key dimensions: alignment on direction, where there is a shared belief in the company’s vision; high-quality interaction, which includes both open communication and a willingness to embrace conflict; and a strong sense of renewal, in which team members are energized because they feel empowered to take risks and innovate to create real impact.

Building a winning top team is a perennial task for even the best CEOs. To learn more, read Scott Keller’s 2017 classic, “High-performing teams: A timeless leadership topic.”

Read our latest thinking on this classic topic

—Edited by Drew Holzfeind, editor, Chicago 

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