IMD International Institute for Management Development

Perspectives for Managers

ProfessorWilliam A. Fischer.

code words for just another mediocre proj-ect creating uninspiring results.

Understanding why most teams fail to deliv-er is the key to understanding the power ofVirtuoso Teams. After much observation, wehave concluded that the seeds of failure formost teams are sown at the very moment ofgreatest ambition, at the inception of the pro-ject’s life, when the team that is to design andchampion the change is selected and put intomotion. At this point, companies follow theirinterpretation of the sage advice of currentmanagement literature regarding the powerof teams: that is, they believe that empower-ment, harmony, and consensus - being good“team players” - are vital to successful teams.Frequently, however, we found that this con-ventional approach to effective teamworkand leadership inherently limits what teamsachieve.

How Do Virtuoso Teams Work?

Polite teams get polite results. In contrast,Virtuoso Teams are neither polite, nor demo-cratic. Instead, they are frequently character-ized by unvarnished honesty, strong egos,straight talk and confrontation; all of whichinspire team members to push the limits ofthe organization’s thinking into radical newterritory, where incremental improvement byits nature cannot go. But this in turn requiresan organizational environment – and a high-level executive “sponsor” – that respects andsupports this high energy, turbulent process,rather than to constrain or diminish it.

There are many examples of successfulVirtuoso Teams; some of the most strikingones come from outside the business world.

Creating teams ofexceptionally talentedprofessionals – true “allstar”performers – andletting them loose tofulfill their promise, is avaluable way to out-distance the competi-tion when the stakesare high, and wheresignificant change tothe organization isa pre-requisite togrowth and success.

What drew our atten-tion to such VirtuosoTeams? Despite loftygoals and hopes, mostteams we see achievemodest results at best.

Far too frequently they fail to deliver anythingclose to their initial goals and aspirations. Ourexperience suggests that teams chosen todrive significant organization change tend tostick closely to the ways of the past. It is notthat these teams or their companies lackambition. On the contrary, companies typi-cally set impressive goals, launch heraldedprojects, create teams empowered to get itdone, and, with much fanfare and manypromises, declare that fundamental change isunderway. Unfortunately, and more oftenthan not, the results are not impressive. Theteams have their plans scaled-back, their ener-gy is sapped, and cynicism overwhelms theirinitial optimism. The exciting vision for thefuture is discarded as a worthy, if unrealizable,dream and it is replaced by what is generous-ly termed “incremental” change. But in reality,such “incremental change” are frequently the

No. 94,August 2002

Real World. Real LearningReal World. Real Learning™™

ProfessorAndrew Boynton.

Virtuoso TeamsTurning Great Talent Into Great Results!

At the end of the day, it is the power of thebest people that you want to rely on, if bigchange is your objective, not whoever is avail-able.The manager needs to identify whom heor she wants by asking:“Whom do I need toget on a team to bust this thing wide open?”

Emphasizing I’s over We’s

Once the best people obtainable arebrought together, the last thing we wouldwant to do is to engage them in such amanner that we only get average results.Virtuoso Teams are more than a simpleassemblage of great talent. By definition theyallow individual talent to be appreciatedwithin a team context. To achieve this, theteam leader must balance the individual andthe group in a way that allows the expres-sion of talent with “solo” opportunities. AsWarren Bennis wrote: “Groups becomegreat only when everyone in them, leadersand members alike, is free to do his or herabsolute best.”2 Nonetheless, emphasizingthe individual – the “I”- directly challengesmuch of contemporary managementthought, which is all about emphasizing the“We-ness” of teams: gaining consensus andbuy-in, achieving team spirit and harmony,establishing the so-called win-win attitudes.3

As important as this may be on a day-to-daybasis, it will rarely prove capable of achievingradical change.

Virtuoso Teams also put great talent at per-sonal risk. In We-teams, because we are “allin this together,” the risk to the individual islow. In contrast, Virtuoso teams (or I-teams) take people with big personalbrands and explicitly challenge them to layit all on the line. If the project fails, they failas individuals; their personal brand andprospects are tarnished. But if the projectsucceeds, their personal brands areenhanced collectively, which opens newopportunities for them at a higher level.For example, when Motown bassistMichael Henderson joined Miles Davis’ all-star group in the late 1960s, he knew hewas supposed to be himself rather than tryto “ fit in.” Or as Miles Davis put it : “If youlearn any of that old shit [the music thatthe band was then playing, quite successful-ly], you’re fired!”This, certainly, changes thedefinition of what “ fitting-in” means!

Some of our favorite examples come fromunlikely sources for managerial inspiration: thecreation of West Side Story in the 1950’s, bya team of powerhouse creative giants such asLeonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins andStephen Sondheim; Roald Amundsen’s lead-ership of a Norwegian team of brilliant SouthPole explorers in the early 1900’s; andThomas Edison’s team of stellar knowledgeprofessionals assembled in the late 1800’s.

Another great example of a serial use ofVirtuoso Teams to change the world repeat-edly occurred between 1949 and 1969,when Miles Davis changed the course ofmodern jazz at least three times. In eachinstance, we believe, Davis assembled aVirtuoso Team of the best players and explic-itly set out to revolutionize his professionalworld.With Birth of the Cool in 1949, Davisliterally invented a new “cool” sound – slow-er, more melodic – that overturned the then-prevailing “bebop.” Ten years later, he puttogether a different Virtuoso Team, whichshifted improvisational jazz to the modalthemes in Kind of Blue, perhaps the mostpopular jazz album of all time.Then, in 1969,to the dismay of many “jazz purists,” Davisagain formed an all-star group to recordBitches Brew, which was an electronic fusionof jazz and rock. For each of these revolutionsin jazz, Davis’ groups brought together indi-vidual superstars – each with a huge person-al brand in the existing conventions andhence with a lot at risk personally – andexpected them to excel both individually insolo improvisations and as an ensemble.What have we learned from such examples?

Starting with the best people

The fundamental requirement for virtuosoteams is to obtain the best talent obtainableand then letting it fly to the highest individualachievement level it can reach.“Obtainable” isthe key word here, because all too often,when initiating change programs, managerssettle for taking on the best available talent,which almost invariably translates into averagetalent and hence average results.This is exact-ly what one historian of the computer agesaw when he observed:“Average populationswill always achieve only average results, butwhat we are talking about are exceptionalpopulations seeking extraordinary results.”1

Virtuoso Teams Turning Great Talent Into Great Results!

2

“Polite teams getpolite results. In

contrast,VirtuosoTeams are neither

polite, nor democratic.Instead, they are

frequently charac-terized by unvarnished

honesty, strong egos,straight talk andconfrontation.”

1 Robert X. Crigley, Accidental

Empires, New York: Penguin Books,

1996 [revised edition].

2 Warren Bennis, Organizing Genius,

p. xvi.

3 We-ness is behind many

successful populist team

initiatives, such as quality circles,

kaizen, and a variety of other

successful efforts aimed at

continuous improvement.

team and the leader share physical space inclose proximity for long periods of time.Thishelps to emotionally charge the projects forteam members, thereby extracting the tal-ent and energy needed to drive the projectforward, beyond the expectations and pos-sibilities previously considered.

In almost all the cases we examined, theVirtuoso Teams were intolerant of aloofnessand emotional detachment by any of theirmembers, leaders included. As a result,Virtuoso teams are frequently uncomfort-able places to be.We were repeatedly struckby the bluntness of intra-group communica-tions, heated flair-ups, competition and frus-tration. Rather than dwell on injury andrecrimination, however, the groups weobserved had an unusual ability to put dis-traction aside, or even to feed off of it. Therespect for each others’ talent was so strong,we believe, that they accepted even the mostpointed personal criticism in the spirit inwhich it was intended: to make them betterpartners in a revolutionary team enterprise.In the minds of many team members, therewas the realization, as one participant put,that: “This could well be the best thing thatwe ever accomplish, why shouldn’t we pusheach other to make it better?” In otherwords, the ultimate payoff was too great tospare anyone’s feelings.

The hotter the oven gets, the closer the teampulls together. This is a breeding ground forsuccessful change to take place.

Head-Playing

Leaders manipulate members of VirtuosoTeams, purposefully raising the emotionalstakes for greater achievement. It may not bepretty, but we often saw that they did this tocreate ambitious norms and expectations. Inparticular, leaders sought to instill in teammembers the recognition that they werepart of an elite.There was also the recogni-tion that the project would only be excep-tional if the individual talents were encour-aged into going beyond where even theythought possible. For example, after pianistWynton Kelley discovered (upon his arrival atthe studio) that he would only play one trackon Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, many observersbelieve that he delivered the best perform-

If you put a musician, or any knowledgeprofessional, in a place where he has to dosomething different from what he does allthe time, then he can do that – but he’sgot to think differently in order to do it.He has to use his imagination, be morecreative, more innovative; he’s got to takemore risks.4

Democracy is not us

We recognize that solo performances,improvisation, and creative license – alongwith big egos and personal risk – are oftenassociated with managerial nightmares.These teams create innumerable challengesfor managers.The most talented individualsare often contentious and confrontational,as well as impatient with themselves andtheir achievements; they will fight in order tomove ahead. When radical change is theobjective, we believe that these are accept-able costs. This is one of the reasons whyVirtuoso Teams require directive, evenauthoritarian, leadership at times: they arenot about democracy. Each member needsto be confident that their talent is up to thechallenge and they need to realize that thereason for strong direction is that they arebeing stretched beyond what even theythought that they were capable of achieving.This creates an unusual group dynamic thatrequires unusual managerial skills.

No Concession for Feelings:Direct Dialogue

Virtuoso Teams tend to operate in anintensely personal context with as muchdirect dialogue as possible. Participants alsomust be in close physical proximity and can-not rely on e-mails or office memos to getthings done. Only this open, direct, give-and-take, can provide the necessary band-width for the ideas to be conveyed, ham-mered out and finally acted on.The leader-ship process, which involves the purposefulcreation of a pressure cooker, can be astough as it is productive.

Physical and EmotionalIntimacy

Leadership of Virtuoso Teams demandsimmediate physical intimacy, in which the

3

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“ Virtuoso Teamsrequire directive,even authoritarian,leadership at times:they are not aboutdemocracy.”

“ Virtuoso Teamswere intolerant ofaloofness and emo-tional detachmentby any of their mem-bers, leadersincluded.”

4 Miles Davis, quoted in Nisenson,

The Making of Kind of Blue,

ibid., p. 136.

4

years later, another well-known musiciandescribed Davis as “by far the greatest listen-er that I have ever experienced in a musicalgroup.”7 The lesson is, very simply, that whena manager creates a Virtuoso Team and turnsit loose, he or she must also be prepared toreceive as well as give direction. Listening isthe most important way that a leader of aVirtuoso Team can spend his or her time.Theleader must be a virtuoso listener.

Conclusion

The Virtuoso Team is a powerful way both togenerate radical new strategies and to rein-vent a firm.They are not meant to operateover the long haul or to move things alongfor modest improvement. Our research con-tinues, but it has indicated a way to systemat-ically exploit the power of this method. Onelesson is clear, it is not easy: when you workwith the very best, they will demand the bestof you, as well.

ance of his career. Davis had deliberately cre-ated an emotional shock for Kelley, who roseto the challenge. Similarly, Davis included two“big brand” saxophonists – John Coltraneand Cannonball Adderley – in the sextet as apush to each. Davis’ methods were tough, butthey got the best out of each new group. AsJimmy Cobb, the drummer on Kind of Blue,summed up: “Miles liked to [play] with musi-cians’ heads… get them worried and nerv-ous. He thought it would make them playbetter, and I guess he was usually right.”5 Thesame is true, we believe, for virtually everyVirtuoso Team.

Telling What Not to Do, Ratherthan What to Do

With Virtuoso Teams, one of the leader’sroles is to create the context in which talentblossoms, often through improvisation andspontaneous exchanges between teammembers. However, the leader’s role is not totell team members precisely how to accom-plish their task.This is because each memberbrings knowledge and talent to the groupthat no one else has, including the leaderhim/herself. As a result, the role of the man-ager is changed profoundly, from director toa kind of traffic cop.The leader must spendmore time telling team members what not todo, rather than on what to do.When speak-ing of Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderly put itthis way:“When [Miles] did speak, it was typ-ically to react to something that seemed outof place. ‘He never told anyone what to playbut would say ‘Man, you don’t need to dothat.’ Miles really told everybody what NOTto do. I heard him and dug it.”6 While author-itarian, the voice of the leader is muted. Insuch instances, silence is not the same astimidity or disinterest. It is a powerful expres-sion of admiration for and enjoyment in thetalent of others in the team.

Listening: the key managerialactivity

In our view, talent must be appreciated andnurtured if it is to soar. In most knowledge-work, this means listening to the opinions ofthe all-stars that the leader spent so muchtime to assemble. In simpler terms, expertisedeserves respect. “Listen” is the first word inMiles Davis’ autobiography, Miles. Quite a few

Virtuoso Teams Turning Great Talent Into Great Results!

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Editor: Roger Whittle© IMD,August 2002. No part of this publicationmay be reproduced without written authorization.

Real World. Real LearningReal World. Real Learning™™

5 Nisenson, ibid., p. 141.

6 Ashley Kahn, Kind of Blue, The

Making of the Miles Davis

Masterpiece, New York: Da Capo,

2000, p. 106.

7 Gary Peacock as quoted in Paul

Tingen, Miles Beyond, New York:

Billboard Books, 2001, p. 14.

“The project wouldonly be exceptional

if the individualtalents were encour-

aged into goingbeyond where even

they thoughtpossible.”