Teams are built, not born. As Steve Zaccaro notes, an effective team manager builds trust between individuals and then leverages and generates the bonds of trust across a group of people to build a cohesive team. Before leaders can model desired actions, they must clarify their values and align their actions with these values. But how? One way is by listening to feelings. What ideas inspire pride? What values (even undesirable ones) inspire guilt or shame instead? In order to find your voice, as Kouzes and Posner encourage leaders to do, you must first clarify your feelings.
Early and frequent communications among team members are also critical in the development of a shared identity. A team’s “ ability to optimize the quality of team members’ interactions through resolution of dissent, utilization of cooperative behaviors, or the use of motivational reinforcing statements” is the key to developing productive team member interactions.
It is often the leader’s role to make sure this happens. As Major General (retired) Lon Maggart notes, “Leadership is the essential ingredient in developing the trust necessary for building cohesion in an organization and the only source I know of for heart, grit, determination, endless hope and tenacity. The leader is the only one who can lead subordinates past mere understanding into the realm of doing.” Enabling others to act by fostering collaboration and sharing power again relies on the ability to empathize, to walk a mile in others’ moccasins. Moreover, managers must have sufficient self-confidence to allow others to take credit for positive outcomes (while also not automatically blaming others for failure).
Creating an effective team—one that accomplishes tasks and does so as a cohesive unit—is perhaps one of the most important and difficult challenges faced by managers. Now, let’s take a look at how one manager built an extremely effective team. This team example, however, is not drawn from the world of business but from the world of sports. Even if you’re not a sports fan, read on. Our focus here is on a terrific example of emotionally intelligent team building, not on the sport itself. Therefore, consider the story of Grady Little, former manager of the Boston Red Sox baseball team.
The Situation: Grady Little
A single gut decision by baseball manager Grady Little was widely believed to have cost the Boston Red Sox the 2003 American League Championship, as well as a chance to play in the World Series. The Red Sox, whose unofficial slogan might be “wait until next year,” were once again left at the altar, and the blame fell squarely on their manager (now their ex-manager). Grady Little was skewered by the press: “The Red Sox had a chance to win the American League pennant, dancing atop the mound at Yankee Stadium. They blew it, in large part because of a stunningly poor decision by the manager.”
After his ace pitcher, Pedro Martinez, showed signs of fatigue, Little walked to the pitcher’s mound. The expectation was that Little would pull Pedro and put in a relief pitcher. A left-handed batter was due up next, and Little had a lefty relief pitcher warmed up and ready to go. However, Little stayed with Pedro. Pedro looked tired, but Little asked him if he could face another batter, and Pedro indicated that he could. This was a big game— the game—and Little had shown his ability to create a sense of team spirit and motivate players during the long season. Pedro said he could do it, and Little showed his confidence in his star pitcher, going with a gut decision. The rest, as they say, is history. Little, despite managing teams that won more than ninety games in two consecutive seasons, has been banned in Boston.
At the risk of our being banished forever from the hallowed ground of Fenway Park, the home of the Red Sox, we must beg to differ with popular opinion. First, let’s examine the Red Sox 2003 season; then, we’ll take a closer look at manager Grady Little. The Red Sox lost the final game of a seven-game series with the mighty New York Yankees after playing eleven innings of terrific ball (a game usually has nine innings, but when the score is a tie at the end of nine innings, teams continue to play until one takes the lead). The same team, under Little, pulled off a stunning upset against Oakland’s Athletics for the chance to play in the championship series.
What Was Said About Little
The public wanted Little’s head. But those who worked most closely with him were uniform in their praise of his managerial style and ability to build and to lead the team. Pedro Martinez stood up for his manager and the decision to leave him in the game. Pedro went so far as to shoulder the entire responsibility for the outcome of the decision, noting, “I am responsible for the pitches and decisions I make. Grady did a great job all season, and it’s not fair to blame Grady for whatever decision was made out there.”
Even the guy who fired Little—general manager Theo Epstein— acknowledged Little’s big accomplishments, noting how Little created a sense of team and a feeling of mutual support, and a team that enjoyed the fun of the sport. Said Epstein: “They set a really high standard, and that’s what we’re going to expect of every Red Sox team from now on in, in its own unique way.”
The praises kept coming. A player who is a “starter” is supposed to play almost every game, certainly every big game. But that was not the case in the play-offs for second baseman Todd Walker. Yet, even though Little benched Walker for a critical play-off game, Walker had only the most positive things to say about Grady Little: “He was honest, up front and very approachable as a manager.”
Perhaps it was first-baseman Kevin Millar who said it best: “There were times we could have collapsed, but he [Little] didn’t let us. . . . We all love Grady Little.”
The Analysis
Whether or not Little made the right decision to leave Pedro Martinez in the game, the data support Little’s ability to identify, use, understand, and manage emotions. It is this skill set, in our opinion, that enabled Little to take a group of prima donnas and develop a cohesive and high-functioning team.
Clearly, Little knew how Pedro felt. He sensed the fatigue. But he also sensed Pedro’s motivation, purpose, and desire to win. As Little said later on, “I knew the condition and mind-set of every player before the game and during the game. Me and every player in that clubhouse and that dugout . . . that’s who they wanted on the mound. There was no doubt in my mind.”
Of the loss, Little noted: “Yes, we came up short of our goal, and to the Red Sox Nation, I say I hurt with each of you. It was painful for all of us.” Little displayed a deep sense of emotional empathy.
Even Red Sox president, Larry Lucchino, had to admit that Little,-with his “bountiful gifts,” would be hard to replace. Watching the Red Sox play and interact with each other, it seemed clear that this was a team sport and that the sense of team was created by Little. And unlike many super-star teams playing on their home field, Red Sox players often autographed baseballs, programs, and other items for their throngs of fans.
The Result
Little was a team builder in Boston, no doubt about it, and the public record is clear on this point. But we’d like to tell you a more private story about Little. Consider it an emotional intelligence exposÈ of sorts.
During one of the last games of the 2003 spring training season, we had the chance to watch the Red Sox, and Little, up-front and up-close in the intimate ballparks of Florida. During one such game, a young fellow of fourteen slipped a scrawled note to coach Mike Cubbage, asking Cubbage if he could give the paper to manager Grady Little. Little folded the note and put it in his back pocket. During a lull in the game, Little pulled the note out, read it, and put it back in his pocket. The note was brief. The young man related the story of his best friend, a die-hard Red Sox fan who had suffered a spinal stroke a few months earlier and was in a wheelchair. The note asked if it was possible for someone on the team to call his friend after the game to cheer him up.
At the game’s end, as Little was walking toward the press for a post-game interview, the young man called out to him. Little waved and said, “I’ve got to talk to these guys now. We can’t call your friend, but we’ll do something for him.” The young man was disappointed but not surprised at what he thought was a brush-off. At the very least, Little read the note, kept it, and actually responded to the young man’s verbal inquiry. That’s a lot more than most professionals would do. It indicates a person with some understanding of emotions and of people.
It was perhaps a week or two later when that same best friend called the young man to tell him that a large package, postmarked Boston, had arrived. In it were photos, autographs, and Red Sox souvenirs—and a note from manager Grady Little. Spring training had ended, the team had packed its bags for the journey north, and Grady Little must have hung on to that hand-written note.
The Outcome and Lessons Learned
Will you win more ball games if you are emotionally intelligent? Perhaps, perhaps not. But emotionally intelligent managers do seem to have an edge over their rivals: they are able to see the big picture, consider multiple points of view, and do the right things. These are the actions of a leader who builds and maintains effective teams. Little, by doing the right thing, created a sense of trust and belonging, and we think these feelings, and the team he created, were effective.