One Mission: How Leaders Build a Team of Teams

This informed each unit’s narrative, which in turn increased members’ sense of tribal identity, which contributed to an echo chamber effect across different parts of our organization’s bureaucracy.

as Albert Einstein noted toward the end of his decently fruitful career, “a new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels.”

Any one of you could be someplace else right now, doing something easier, but instead you’re choosing to be part of this team. Thanks for what you’re doing.”

Here are the authorities and decision-making rights that I am giving you. Use them creatively to achieve our mission.

For many of the organizations we interact with, their entire opinion of our organization will be shaped off the tone of your e-mails, the courtesy you give their staff, and the respect you show for their mission.” It was eye-opening and important counsel. I’d gone from a leader within a unit to a connector of multiple units in a matter of days.

Newer teams or leaders should, of course, be placed under tighter operational constraints. This will likely be to their relief, as they are forced to “check in” for permission from solid-line superiors far more often than their more experienced peers. As leaders demonstrate greater competence in the decision space they own, and push for more autono

We moved to the next topic for discussion.

In the Task Force, physical and virtual realms were created to provide potential boundary spanners with the ability to independently familiarize themselves with one another’s teams, perceive one another’s needs, and identify which of them might be facing a higher-priority issue at any given moment. They could then solve their own issues, well ahead

After a pause, McChrystal began again. “Smitty, what else can we do to support you right now?”

Every twenty-four hours, there was a new opportunity for cross-boundary ties to emerge, driven by a shared understanding of what was happening on the battlefield and reinforced by our organization’s recommunicated aligning narrative.