288. The Difference Between a Group and a Team - and Why You're On The Wrong Side
Most leaders talk about their team like they understand what it means to be a team. But all they're talking about is a group of people. Do you know the difference?
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Think of the best team you’ve ever been a part of.
Actually, don’t do that. I changed my mind.
Instead, I want you to think of the 2004 US Men’s Olympic Basketball Team.
Are you thinking of them?
Here, let me help.
Lebron James
Carmelo Anthony
Dwyane Wade
Allen Iverson
Tim Duncan
It reads like a veritable Hall of Fame inductee list. No wonder they called them the “Dream Team”.
With so many amazing players playing together, there’s no way they could lose, right?
That was a rhetorical question because, spoiler alert, they did lose. That group of amazing basketball players couldn’t win the Olympic gold medal if it hit them in the paycheck.
Wanna know why?
Because they weren’t a team.
The Difference Between a Group and a Team
When it comes to the workplace, there’s a big difference between a group of people and a team.
Anybody can put together a group of people. In fact, if you have enough clout, you can even put together a group of superstars.
But putting a group of people together doesn’t mean you have a team. No siree, Bobby. Or whatever your name is.
Creating a team takes a lot more planning and patience.
The difference between a team and a group of people is important to grasp if you’re ever going to hire, lead or, y’know, interact with other people.
Let me explain.
The Purpose Of A Team At Work
A group can be small or large. It can be comprised of 2 people or 200. Heck, choose any number, and you can form a group of that size.
A group of people usually work with a siloed mentality.
Though they may have a common goal, they’re usually not aligned with a common purpose. As a result, the train can’t seem to stay on the tracks. Sometimes it can’t even find the tracks, which is a more problematic analogy that I’m not gonna get into at this point.
A team, on the other hand, has very specific characteristics. They include:
Common purpose: All team members must be rallied around the “why”. This is more important than you think and is often the piece I find missing with my leadership consulting clients.
Size: An ideal team size is 4-6 people. Smaller than that and you don’t get enough diverse opinions. Larger than that and you get a decrease in creativity and productivity.
(Bonus fact: The ideal number of people for optimum creativity is 4.6)Diversity: A diverse group of thinkers leads to more innovative problem-solving than a homogeneous group. Even if they’re homogeneous geniuses.
(Editor’s Note: I see what you did there. It’s still not funny.)Complementary roles: Everybody has a purposeful role on a team and each role complements every other role. Every team member must understand their role and how it relates to the greater purpose - or else there will be trouble in Teamville.
Mutual Trust: Trust is built among the team members by respecting each other’s thoughts, ideas and opinions. No trust, no team.
Effortless Collaboration: Each member of a team speaks equally. That’s not so much of a rule as what naturally happens with healthy teams. You see, when you respect each other and trust each other and know your role, everybody ends up with an equal say. Is that currently happening on your so-called team?
Conflict resolution: There are four types of conflicts when it comes to teams (more about that in another article). Good teams effectively resolve conflict. Groups of people get mired in conflict. Don’t get mired.
If you do all those things above and you do them all well, you’ll end up with a dynamic organism in which the whole is greater than the sum of each contributor.
If done wrong, you’ll end up with a group of people where the sum of each contributor is a whole lotta headaches.
This seems like a good time to take our little chat back to the 2004 Olympic basketball team
The Team Leader’s Role
We already talked about the superstar players on that Olympic team. You don’t need me to waste a paragraph describing how individual egos can get in the way of making them a cohesive team. You already know that happens.
But there’s one part I haven’t mentioned yet: the team leader.
Larry Brown was the coach of that All-Star squad. His job was to be the team leader.
In case you don’t know, Larry Brown is a Hall of Fame basketball coach and the only coach in history to have won both NCAA and NBA championships. In 2004, he led his Detroit Pistons through a championship season.
There was only one problem: The players didn’t respect him.
He was the wrong coach at the wrong time for those players.
This is important to understand:
Even if you have a highly unified team with a defined purpose, the wrong leader for that particular team can still screw it all up.
There are five core jobs of an effective team leader.
Putting the right people in the right seats doing the right things
Creating and promoting the vision, goal, and purpose of the team
Fostering transparent communication and mutual respect
Promoting collaboration
Teaching the team how to effectively resolve conflicts
When a leader is unable to fulfill their tasks, it destroys the motivation and effectiveness of the team. A poor leader can turn a Dream Team into a nightmare.
Building Your Team
Here’s the bottom line: You can have all the talent in the world, but if you don’t have the right dynamic and you don’t exemplify the right leadership, then you won’t have an effective team. You’ll just have a dysfunctional group of people.
The difference between a group and a team could be the deciding factor between winning and losing.
Which means the 2004 Olympic basketball squad proved to be less of a Dream Team and more of a regular old Hoop Group.
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Are you part of an effective team or just a meandering group?
If you want some support in turning your group into a more effective team, contact me. I make the magic happen for growth-stage to Fortune 500 companies.
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I had quite a few "hmm" moments reading your post, but, if I'm honest, what I liked even better was "Leading Starts With Following" :)
I couldn’t agree more with the emphasis on a common purpose and mutual trust as the foundation of any successful team. I’ve seen firsthand how teams that rally around a shared "why" and truly respect each other’s roles outperform even the most talented groups of individuals. It’s a reminder that building a strong team is as much about emotional intelligence and culture as it is about skill.
The point about leadership resonates deeply too. Even the best teams can falter without the right leader to guide them, much like Larry Brown with the 2004 team. It’s not just about managing egos, but about fostering an environment where every team member feels valued and aligned with the collective goal.
This article is a great reminder that assembling a team goes beyond putting the best players on the court—it's about ensuring they work together seamlessly, trust each other, and are led by someone who can bring out the best in them.