Can you win by sub-optimising?
It is a common sporting cliché that a champion team will beat a team of champions.
The truth of the cliché was demonstrated recently in the Paris Olympics, in the game between the US ‘Dream Team’ and Serbia at the semi-final stage of the basketball competition. The US ‘Dream team’ was down 11 points at half time, and 13 points at 3/4 time, 63 to 76.
They were as advertised, playing as a group of self-interested, ego driven, champions.
Imagine the 3/4 time ‘team chat’.
The coach, Steve Kerr, is reputed to be a calm and clear communicator. I imagine he pointed out they were being beaten by a team of also rans. These also rans were playing like a champion team, and unless the US team started to do the same, they would lose.
The US team responded, and at full time had won the game by 4 points, 95 to 91.
To make this massive turnaround, the group of champion players needed to play as a champion team. They had to use their skills to create opportunities for their teammates, at the expense of the ‘glory shot’ they had been taking in the first three quarters of the game.
Paraphrasing W. Edwards Deeming: ‘to optimise the whole, you have to sub-optimise the parts’
This means that optimising the total system requires individual compromises in component parts be made in the best interests of the whole. This works in your factories and offices, just as it does in a sporting team. A champion team will beat a team of champions every day.