Where Ideas, Experiences, and Lessons Learned Intersect

The Value Created by a Strong Team

Posted on September 17, 2019 Updated on August 17, 2026

I participated in an amazing team-building exercise as a Board Member for the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Wisconsin. We were heading down a path that would lead to a decision on whether to invest $150M in a new addition. The CEO at the time, Jon Vice, wisely determined that each committee needed strong teams to thoroughly vet the idea from every possible perspective.

The process started with being given a book to read (“Now, Discover Your Strengths” by Marcus Buckingham & Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D.) and then completing the “StrengthsFinder” assessment using a code provided in the book. The goal was to understand gaps in perception (how you view yourself vs. how others view you) so you could better understand your strengths and weaknesses. Then, teams were created with people having complementary skills to help eliminate weaknesses from the overall team perspective. The results were impressive.

Over my career, I have been involved in many team-building exercises and events – some of which provided useful insights. However, most failed to combine the findings meaningfully, provide useful context, or offer actionable recommendations. Key areas that were consistently omitted were Organizational Culture, Organizational Politics, and Leadership. Those three areas significantly impact value creation vis-à-vis team effectiveness and commitment.

When I ran my consulting company, we had a small core team of business and technology consultants and leveraged subcontractors and an outsourcing company to take on more concurrent projects, as well as larger, more complex ones. This approach worked for three reasons:

1. We had developed a High-Performance Culture that was based on:
   
   • Purpose: A common vision of success, understanding why that mattered, and understanding how that was defined and measured.
   • Ownership: Taking responsibility for something and being accountable for the outcome. This included responsibility for the extended team of contractors. Standardized procedures helped ensure consistency and make it easier for each person to accept responsibility for “their team.”
   • Trust: Everyone understood that to be effective and responsive, they needed to trust and support each other and trust each other’s judgment. If there was a concern, we focused on context and process improvements to understand what happened and implement changes based on lessons learned. We avoided personal attacks for the good of the entire team.
     
2. Empowerment: Everyone understood that decision-making involves risk, while also recognizing that delaying an important decision could be costly and create more risk. Therefore, each member was responsible for making good decisions as needed and communicating changes to the rest of the team.
   
3. Clear and Open Communication: The team was very transparent and honest. When an issue came up, they tried to resolve it with that person first, then escalated if they couldn’t reach an agreement and decided to seek the team’s consensus. Everything was out in the open and done in a constructive, collaborative spirit.

People who were not a good fit would quickly wash out, so our core team consisted of trusted experts. A friendly competition helped raise the bar for the entire team, but when needed, the other team members became a safety net for each other.

We were all focused on the same goal, and everyone realized the only way to succeed was to work together. Win or lose, we did it together. The strength of our team created tremendous value – internally and for our customers that we sustained for several years. That value included innovation, higher levels of productivity and profitability, and an extremely high success rate.

This approach can work at any level but is most effective when it starts at the top. When employees see their company leaders behaving this way, it provides a model and sets expectations for everyone under them. If there is dysfunction within an organization, it often starts at the top – by promoting or accepting behaviors that do not benefit the whole of the organization. With a strong and positive organizational culture, the value of strong teams is multiplied and becomes an incredible competitive advantage.