The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club wasn't be worth a dime” Former UCLA coach John Wooden

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14

Teams and Teamwork: Two Heads Really Can Be Better Than One

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Management Live

Team Contributions and Lost

YOUR CHAPTER 14 TAKEAWAYS

  1. Understand the importance of teams and teamwork.
  2. Identify the building blocks of successful teamwork.
  3. Understand how managers create and lead high-performance teams.

Picture a mysterious island and a group of random strangers brought together by a plane crash. There is little hope of rescue. You've probably been there before, at least vicariously. It's the setting for the hit television series Lost.

In episode 5 of season 1 a doctor, Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox), strikes off on his own to deal with personal demons. He ends up discovering a source of clean water and realizes it is the key to keeping everyone alive.

Upon returning to the crash site, Jack finds several of the survivors fighting for control of the remaining bottled water. He interrupts the fight and delivers what becomes the guiding mantra of the series—“live together, die alone.” Jack implores each person to figure out what they can contribute to the good of all, and ...

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