"Shining Star" or "Team of Stars" or "Star Team"

During the course of past many years, there has a been a deliberate attempt from my side to emphasize on the need to build healthy-happy-competitive teams.

The billion dollar question - How to build ? The enigma that stinging all the managers , leaders today.

Typical Team patterns -

• A "Star in the team" - We know this for years. There is one or two smart folks, who are the go-getters and trend-setters. They are the go-to-people and very soon become the favorites of their managers. Some in this zone are smart , some in this are hard-working, The smart one's know to play the game and the hard-working one just go about their job. 
• The best example - Our Indian Cricket team in the mid-late 1990's. We had a star player - SRT. The team shines as bright as the star.

• "Team of Stars" - This is the easiest of all, primarily because everyone today thinks they are a born "Star" and best of all entitled to be one. This doesn't promote a culture of togetherness but one of hatred and competition. Everyone argues competition is good, but this is hatred drive one....
• The best example - Our Indian Cricket team in the mid 2000's....where we were a bunch of stars. Hopes of all resting on one star after another...but quite often they shine individually but as a team neutralize each other. 

• "Star Team" - Today's enigma, there is no formula to build , but only sincere effort in getting there. This state is a journey , something that is not achieved overnight but takes ages. Together they shine, each one plays their role and most aptly led by one who puts the team first. Many a times, leaders ask me this question, how do we build it ? The answer is simply "you got to try" and "try to be part of one and not manage it" 
• Again best example - Our Indian cricket team during 2011 cricket world cup era. There was no star player , there were many stars, but the secret sauce, they shone better together. The icing on the cake - Leadership, not only of MSD , but the background muscle provided by Gary. Classic case on the need for coaches who propel from behind and prefer to stay behind.

The first two formations are easy, but are anti-patterns and detrimental....

The last one is a state of culture, the toughest and in many case impossible.....everyone should realize this is a journey, an important one and be at it always....

I also intend to extend this story to highlight an important aspect of coaching. Coaches take great inspiration and examples from sports (and rightly so), but how many prefer to stay behind the scene ....The day coaches decided to front-end and turn leaders....An anti-pattern in the making....

Coaches should be coaches, irrespective of the industry....!!!