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The Price of Admission

Nov 1, 2008

Learn the key traits and behaviors essential for becoming a high-performing team member.

Learn the key traits and behaviors essential for becoming a high-performing team member.

The Price of Admission

How does a team achieve greatness? Not by restructuring, group bonding, or mega-organization-change initiatives. The road to a great team begins with the two core elements of team reality—the leader and the team members. Efforts must target directly changing the "inner" performance game—how the team leader and members perceive themselves and their team—and then reframing or realigning the patterns of team interaction.


By Howard M. Guttman


For team members, the inner change is just as profound as that of the leader, as described in the previous chapter. It begins with a crucial question:

What are the characteristics and behaviors that constitute the "price of admission" for membership on a high-performing team?

Consider the following lists of characteristics developed by two teams within the same organization—one the senior team, the other its direct reports—as they started their journey toward high performance. They asked themselves:

“If this were a great business team, how would a team member show up?”


From the Novartis OTC Global Leadership Team:
  • Be personally accountable and hold others accountable.

  • Be coachable: adapt, move, change, and lead others to change.

  • Be collaborative: open, above board, direct.

  • Be trusting: let go so others can lead.

  • Have integrity: keep your word.

  • Be committed: act as an owner, really engage and add value.



From a Novartis OTC Global Category Team:
  • Follow up and act upon decisions.

  • Keep commitments.

  • Follow conflict-resolution protocols.

  • Be good listeners.

  • Be open and transparent.

  • Act as coaches and support each other.


These traits represent what you would expect from teams striving toward high-performance and horizontal collaboration—being open, transparent, acting as owners of the team’s results, and extending accountability.

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