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66 / BUSINESS / Book review<br />
“When you<br />
facilitate personal<br />
disruption, you<br />
build an A-Team”<br />
As every coach knows, you don’t win<br />
unless your team does. The same goes<br />
for business. In her latest book, Whitney<br />
Johnson reveals that it’s all about<br />
helping people up the learning curve.<br />
How to hire<br />
Go for potential rather than proficiency.<br />
“We are so harried, we hire someone who<br />
knows how to do the job today − rather<br />
than hire someone who might grow in the<br />
role over the course of many tomorrows,”<br />
writes Johnson. Teams need novices as well<br />
as experts: “Sometimes the best ideas emerge<br />
from not knowing the conventions.”<br />
Learning & growth<br />
For a motivated and engaged team, “personal<br />
disruption” through individual learning is key.<br />
“A manager is a bit like a parent. You push<br />
your charges into uncomfortable situations<br />
and are willing to see them fail to help them<br />
grow,” writes Johnson. The challenge is to<br />
manage, “The movement of people from one<br />
learning curve to the next”. A strong team<br />
includes employees in different developmental<br />
phases.<br />
The sweet spot<br />
“The steep part of the curve is where people<br />
perform proactively. Where they think<br />
creatively. Where they innovate... Ideally, 70<br />
percent of your team will be in this sweet<br />
spot,” writes Johnson. The numbers back this<br />
up: “When challenged, 67 percent of people<br />
will demonstrate above-average creativity.”<br />
About the book<br />
With business anecdotes<br />
and real-life examples<br />
to end-of-chapter<br />
summaries and specific<br />
strategies, Build an<br />
A-Team highlights<br />
the importance of<br />
continuous learning for<br />
all members of a team.<br />
Build an A-Team<br />
Play to Their Strengths<br />
and Lead Them Up the<br />
Learning Curve<br />
Author<br />
Whitney Johnson<br />
Publisher<br />
Harvard Business Review Press<br />
Bio<br />
Whitney Johnson is an expert on<br />
disruptive innovation and personal<br />
disruption, with over 20 years of<br />
experience in coaching, investing<br />
and consulting. She is also a regular<br />
contributor to the Harvard Business<br />
Review.<br />
Pages<br />
208<br />
Summary<br />
Central to this book is the idea<br />
that better morale and higher<br />
performance happen through<br />
learning. Invest in growing your team<br />
in terms of skills and challenges,<br />
stimulating each individual’s<br />
personal career journey, and your<br />
team will grow the company. And<br />
that, as Whitney Johnson shows, is<br />
the basis of an A-Team.<br />
text: Annemarie Hoeve
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