This may come as a surprise to some of you, but there are actual rules to building a dream team for your business. Let’s dive deeper!
If you want to go fast, go alone.
And if you want to go far, you go together.
But if you want to go beyond where few have even managed to come close, then you build a dream team.
These are 15 rules of building your dream team.
Don’t worry if you don’t feel like reading; you can enjoy the video below or watch it on YouTube:
1
Seek complementary skills, not clones
The first rule of thumb in creating a dream team is to go beyond carbon copies of yourself.
If you need someone to do what you do while you work on something else, you are not looking for a dream team member; you are looking for outsourcing.
You want a team where each member brings something unique to the table, where their strengths are your weaknesses, and vice versa.
Some people are extremely creative, and some are extremely analytic.
Some can get a lot of broader stuff done quickly, while others can fixate on crucial details.
Synergy is not just about filling gaps; it’s about creating a team that can collectively solve problems from multiple angles.
A team in which everyone is the same cannot be stronger than its strongest member.
2
Mindset over skill set
We believe that every problem stems from two possible angles: A skill issue or a know-how issue.
A skill issue means you don’t have the ability to solve, fix, or improve the task at hand.
A know-how issue means you have the skill but don’t know how, when, or where to apply it.
And both of these angles can be fixed if you have the right mindset.
On top of this, we might ruffle some feathers here, but we believe hard skills are extremely overrated in terms of how hard it is to learn them.
I mean, let’s be completely honest for a second. It is not that hard to learn a new skill.
Most people can do it in less than 6 months, with the right learning framework.
But you cannot teach genuine passion, or at least initiative or a desire for progress.
A team member with the right mindset can grow and adapt, ultimately becoming more valuable than someone with a high level of skill but a rigid or incompatible attitude.
That’s why, for example, you can’t gather a team of superstars in sports and expect them to win everything.
They will eventually lose to a team with better synergy and a collective mindset.
3
Build around natural synergy
There are two types of synergies:
- The one people have when working together.
- The one people have when they are around one another.
Some people just don’t get along, for various reasons.
They can manage to work together on short projects, but they will eventually step on each other’s nerves if given enough time.
There are plenty of strong teams that disbanded due to poor personal synergies.
At the end of the day, you are working with people, and it’s pretty unlikely to find people who are an exact match in terms of what makes them tick.
So you need to make sure they are not, at least, opposites.
This is why natural synergy is often overlooked and also why many dream team members are often long-time friends.
4
Invest in potential over-track record
A dream team doesn’t start as a dream team.
It starts as a group of people who have the potential to build something that’s bigger than themselves.
Yes, they still have a track record; they have their achievements and accolades.
There is no question about their own skill levels.
But this is a matter of what they can achieve together in the future, not what they did individually in the past.
The track record acts like skill reassurance, but the potential is all about future growth.
5
Autonomy and ownership
If you end up needing to micromanage or to handhold often, you don’t have a dream team; you have employees.
They are not the ones driving initiative and growth.
They cannot be held responsible because they are not the ones making the calls.
And they cannot have autonomy because they don’t have the room to choose what to work on.
You see, autonomy and ownership are what truly make a team stand out because it’s something that sits at the core of continuous growth.
You alone cannot pull all the strings and oversee absolutely everything in every department.
And managers can’t really do that either, because their only job is to make sure others do the job, which, let’s be real, isn’t a really high-input job.
A dream team doesn’t need managers or people looking over their shoulders every day.
And that’s because they have the room to act in the direction they see fit, and they are in control of the resources that get put into it.
6
Build on trust
Trust is the only real glue that holds a team together.
It’s not the common purpose of the paycheck or how many benefits they have.
It’s all about trust.
And that’s because a lack of trust in a team means avoiding vulnerability, feedback, and difficult conversations.
If they can’t trust each other, they will play the game nice and safe, but ultimately slow and inefficient.
They won’t take any risks because they don’t want to be vulnerable in case something doesn’t work out.
They won’t provide constructive feedback in order to avoid being a target for possible retaliation.
And generally, they will avoid doing anything that may put the spotlight on them.
Full trust is essential.
7
Commitment to a common purpose
We mentioned that a common purpose doesn’t hold the team together.
However, it does steer them in the same general direction.
People worthy of being part of a dream team need something bigger than themselves to work towards.
And they want it to be an ideal shared amongst their team members.
This also helps them trust one another because they all want the same thing.
They are all in the same boat, on the same journey.
8
Stakes
The reason you build a dream team is that the goal requires a special kind of dedication.
The goalpost is so far ahead that no ordinary team could reach it.
Only a select group of people with special talents and abilities can get there.
This means, for each individual in the team, this is as close as it gets to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
This is the best-case scenario for them.
They have the right people, in the right environment, with the right resources and leadership.
So they are extremely invested. They have stakes in the goal.
It’s something they also want to achieve as individuals, besides achieving it as part of a team.
If the stakes are not there and they don’t feel like the opportunity is real, it’s unlikely they will do their very best.
9
Build a recognizable tribe
People love being a part of a dream team.
They will wear the colors and lift the flag whenever they can.
It’s a sense of belonging, and every high-performing team makes sure each member feels they are an integral part of the group.
For example, every jersey in sports is not just a piece of fabric.
It’s a flag, a badge of honor, representing years of triumph.
It embodies the sweat, tears, and toil of those who wore it before, and it’s a mande that demands respect.
Likewise, when you’re building a dream team, you are not just assigning roles.
You are creating a shared identity. It’s an elite group known for its excellence.
When team members see themselves as part of a distinguished tribe, their dedication to the team’s mission intensifies.
They wear their team identity as a badge of honor, just as a champion athlete wears their jersey.
It’s not about the name on the back, but the symbol on the front and the legacy that comes with it.
10
Everyone knows what part to play
When building a dream team, you’re looking for different types of players.
Some are on the offense, some are on the defense, and some are on the sidelines in supporting roles.
And the most crucial thing is that everyone knows exactly what role they have to play.
Understanding roles within a team is like understanding the gears of a well-oiled machine.
Each team member is a cog, an integral part of the mechanism, but distinct in their contribution.
Clarity in roles also breeds accountability.
Knowing exactly what is expected from everyone helps them take ownership and responsibility.
It also fosters respect and appreciation because everyone is doing their part.
11
Everyone is a master at their craft
After all, this is the dream team, not the afternoon nap team.
So it goes without saying that everyone is at the top of their game or striving to be there.
There is no room for pretenders or half-baked work.
There is a certain degree of competency that is expected from everyone.
When you’re building your team, remember that it can easily crumble under the weight of a bad player.
12
A desire for greatness
You won’t find a dream team player on LinkedIn looking for a job.
They are most likely already doing something that has the potential to lead them to something great.
They don’t really care about jobs, positions, or corporate accolades.
Because they can get those anytime they want. But they moved past that.
They are now at a point where they are looking for an opportunity to work on something truly outstanding.
And they will join you only if you show potential as a leader. It’s a two-way street.
13
Give them all the tools required
One of the main reasons someone eligible would join a dream team is to have access to tools they wouldn’t have otherwise.
Special training, special equipment, teammates who know what they are doing, and so on.
So it’s your job, as the one building the team, to ensure that you can provide all they require.
And generally speaking, they need three things:
1. Something to help them scale.
They can only do it once. You help them 10x their output.
2. Resource allocation
They know how to do it; they just don’t know the means. So you allocate resources for them
3. Reach
They can go super fast, but not very far. You help them make the distance.
14
Discipline equals freedom
Jocko Willink said in his book that discipline and freedom are essentially the same thing.
In the context of a dream team, discipline means everyone is extremely strategic with their time and resources.
In turn, this means everything is moving in unison, when and how it’s supposed to, which leaves them to figure things out.
You see, progress is impossible when you have to put out fires all the time.
You end up spending more time making sure things don’t fall apart rather than building on top.
So it’s your job to provide and enforce that type of environment.
15
A dream team is only as strong as its leader
You probably heard of the saying “Teamwork makes the dream work”. But that’s not the full quote.
The full one is “Teamwork makes the dream work, but a vision becomes a nightmare when the leader has a big dream and a bad team”.
You see, every team needs a leader, a shot-caller, someone who knows the game and the win condition.
But a dream team will quickly disband if they feel like the leadership is not up to par.
After all, high-level people never leave their companies; they leave their managers.
So everything must come from the top, in the correct way.
And of course, we have a bonus for those of you who always stick with us until the end.
Bonus
Opportunity to innovate
Great things happen when great minds come together.
That’s why most success stories have at least two people behind them, even if just one of them is the face of it.
For every Steve Jobs, there is a Steve Wozniak and a Ronald Wayne.
For every Bill Gates, there is a Paul Allen.
And for every Batman, there is a Justice League, if you want to go there.
If you stick to these rules, you will build a dream team capable of reaching for the stars. See you next time!
