Positive and negative synergy

Have you seen sports-teams that largely consist of stars being beaten by teams without any stars whatsoever? Have you felt the disillusion with so many other people? “How could they loose, with him on the team?” All too quickly do we forget that we are talking about a team, fascinated as we are with the talents of the star performer. In a team, the quality of a star has usually less impact on the results than the quality of the synergies between the team members.

This relates to groups within organizations as well, where the effectiveness of a department usually has less to do with the quality of the manager, as important as that may be, than with the culture and cooperation that is kept alive by the people in the group.
Much of this has to do with the motivations for joining groups, be they sports teams or departments. Does one join because the nature of the game requires a team, or because one prefers the company of others, or because one expects to be more effective with others? Does one join because of what one expects to receive in the group or because what one intends to contribute? Perhaps several of these motivations are active at the same time and also motivations change, as the group changes and as one changes as a person and a professional.
Teams which start sometimes have people join who want to bask in the glory of the star. This is perfectly understandable, but it distracts them from a focus on adding a performance of their own. On the other hand, the achievements of the star can motivate the others and serve as examples. The other motivations have likewise ways in which they can be negative and ways in which they can be productive.
Perhaps we have to ask behind the motivations. Is a certain motivation fed by fear or insecurity, as when one expects to be ‘safe’ in a larger group or unnoticed when all the attention goes to the star and/or the group achievement? Or is a motivation fed by curiosity, zeal, sense of achievement or caring? It may well be that motivations which focus on what is out there (the client, technology, interesting people, challenges, etc.) are more contributing to the group performance than motivations which stay close to home. It may make the difference between on the one hand 1+1=3 and 1+1=1,5.

The lessons from St. Benedict

The story of the frustrated team.