How to Build a Successful Team
Article

How to Build a Successful Team

Adam Bryant
The New York Times, 2018
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Editorial Rating

8

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Recommendation

Many company leaders say that hiring the best people is the way to make teams run smoothly. However, cultivating a strong culture of teamwork is more complicated than that. Adam Bryant – chief executive of the leadership development firm Merryck & Co – asked 525 chief executives how they lead and, specifically, how they inculcate teamwork. He reported on the results in  his Corner Office column in The New York Times. While the advice seems obvious at times, these leaders’ insights about teams are digestible and applicable. getAbstract recommends this back-to-the-basics overview to new managers.

Summary

People in teams collaborate best when they are up-front about their problems and when their leaders make team priorities clear. To cultivate team spirit, aim to cut down on squabbles, improve decision making and set no more than three goals. Leaders should rehash their goals with their subordinates. As job search site Ladders CEO Marc Cenedella says, “Until they start making jokes about how often you repeat it, they haven’t internalized it.”

Managers need to espouse team values by rewarding desirable behavior and punishing...

About the Author

Adam Bryant is managing director of the leadership development firm Merryck & Co.

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