What does a high performance team look like? Can you give me a working example? To these often asked questions, I reply, “There are many examples of organizations, business units, sales teams, sports teams that produce great results because of the commitment to teamwork and leadership.” However, there is one team I commonly refer to that gets many people excited and intrigued to learn more and see this team in action for themselves.
I like to add a bit of intrigue once in a while, so I begin with clues:

• Eight pilots
• Four support officers
• 120 active duty military personnel

Most of us are familiar with the cliché statement “There is no “I” in team!” This is true especially when team members only focus on the “I,” and see an opportunity to benefit only themselves and not the team as a whole. Their work goes from great to another word that has an “I” -MEDIOCRITY.

When it comes to teamwork, my junior year in high school comes to mind. Our volleyball team was the worst in the league with only three wins and the upcoming season did not look promising. But, instead of feeling sorry for ourselves, we determined that we were going to win the Regional CIF Championship. Throughout practices, games, and even off the court, we reminded each other about our goal. We focused our will, strength, effort, and talent, to ONE goal–to win the championship. We knew in order to do this we had to take one game at a time, one practice after another, and maintain a strong unity to excel and defeat the odds.To be honest, we weren’t the best team. Our team didn’t really have one key “star” player. No one was incredible and noticeably amazing. But our goal overcame our differences and varying backgrounds, it surpassed all other issues and prevailed over obstacles. With close teamwork and drive, we were collectively better as a team than if we were stuck on our own. We ended up winning the CIF Championship that year.

Just about anywhere you look you can find individuals who have helped lead teams to great success. There are probably many individuals you can think of right now leading and helping teams function at their peak performance. Sir Alex is one of those individuals who has been able to help individuals hone their team skills to create an unstoppable force that is admired and appreciated by many.

Background

The Premier League in England is one of the most well respected football (soccer) leagues in the world. Manchester United, a club within the Premier League is the most successful club in the Leagues history. Sir Alex has led Manchester United in winning the league title nine times: 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2007.