Building Teams That Thrive
- Dan Freschi - EDGE
- a few seconds ago
- 4 min read
High-performing teams are not just an asset in any organization. They’re a necessity. Yet, despite decades of research and the widespread use of teamwork frameworks, many organizations still struggle to translate collaboration into consistent results.
In Where Leadership Begins, I emphasize that leadership effectiveness often rises or falls on a leader’s ability to build and sustain cohesive teams. As Scott Tannenbaum and Eduardo Salas note in their book Teams That Work, “great teams don’t happen by accident, they are intentionally built.” One of the most effective and practical tools for that intentional development is The Rocket Model.
The Power of Frameworks in Team Development
Team frameworks are helpful because they turn abstract ideas about teamwork into practical systems. They clarify how team members work together, communicate, and make decisions. However, many frameworks, such as Agile, Tuckman’s stages of development, and Belbin’s team roles, focus on specific aspects of teamwork rather than offering a comprehensive guide.
That’s where The Rocket Model, developed by Gordon Curphy and Diane Nilsen, stands apart. It provides a comprehensive, diagnostic and prescriptive framework that helps leaders understand what makes teams succeed or fail, offering concrete levers to improve performance.
Introducing The Rocket Model
The Rocket Model rests on eight interdependent components that describe what effective teams need to launch, perform, and sustain success. Like a rocket, if even one part of the system is weak, lift-off may fail.
The eight components are:
Context – Understanding the larger environment in which the team operates.
Mission – Defining the purpose and reason the team exists.
Talent – Ensuring the right people with the right skills are on board.
Norms – Establishing behavioral expectations and team culture.
Buy-In – Building shared commitment to the mission and team identity.
Power – Securing the authority, resources, and support needed to deliver.
Morale – Sustaining trust, cohesion, and psychological safety.
Results – Measuring and celebrating outcomes that matter.
Each of these elements interacts dynamically. Leaders who understand these interconnections can diagnose where their teams are strong and where alignment is breaking down.
Connecting The Rocket Model to Where Leadership Begins
In Where Leadership Begins, I write that leadership “starts with awareness, of self, of others, and of purpose.” The Rocket Model brings that same awareness to team leadership.
Self-awareness informs how a leader frames the context and clarifies the mission.
Relational awareness influences how norms are established and morale is maintained.
Strategic awareness determines how resources, authority, and results are aligned.
When leaders combine these dimensions of awareness, they move from managing individuals to orchestrating a collective that turns a group of talented professionals into a synchronized, purpose-driven, high-performance team.
What Research Tells Us About Teams That Work
Tannenbaum and Salas’s research underscores what the Rocket Model operationalizes: effective teams are built on clear structure, open communication, and continuous learning.
In Teams That Work, they identify four truths about real-world teams:
Teams succeed when they have shared goals and clear boundaries.
Psychological safety - the belief that it’s safe to take risks is critical to innovation and performance.
Team processes, such as coordination and communication routines, separate high-performing teams from struggling ones.
Reflection and feedback loops are essential for long-term success.
The Rocket Model addresses each of these through its components.
For example:
Mission and Norms establish shared goals and boundaries.
Morale directly connects to psychological safety.
Processes and Buy-In sustain coordination and engagement.
Results provide the data needed for feedback and reflection.
Together, these principles create what Tannenbaum calls “team resilience,” the ability to adapt, recover, and refocus amid pressure.
Diagnosing and Developing Teams with The Rocket Model
If you’re a leader seeking to build or strengthen your team, here’s how to put The Rocket Model into action:
Launch a Team Diagnostic: Have team members assess the eight components honestly and anonymously. Identify areas of strength and friction. (Contact us to complete the official Team Assessment Survey (TAS) used by thousands of teams worldwide)
Clarify the Mission and Context: Revisit your team’s purpose, goals, and value to the organization. Alignment starts with clarity.
Set Clear Norms and Roles: Define how decisions are made, how conflict is handled, and what success looks like.
Strengthen Buy-In and Morale: Celebrate wins, create space for honest dialogue, and ensure everyone sees their contribution to the bigger picture.
Empower with Resources: Ensure your team has the authority, data, and tools to act.
Measure and Reflect: Regularly assess performance, adjust processes, and encourage learning.
These steps are not a one-time exercise but an ongoing cycle of reflection, adaptation, and reinforcement.
Leadership at the Core of Team Performance
Ultimately, The Rocket Model reinforces a central theme from Where Leadership Begins: leadership is not about command. It’s about connection and clarity. Teams mirror their leaders' mindsets. When leaders model openness, set direction, and cultivate trust, teams naturally align around shared purpose. You build teams that thrive.
As Tannenbaum and Salas remind us, “effective teamwork requires more than good intentions. It demands deliberate action.” The Rocket Model provides the roadmap for that action, helping leaders transform potential into performance.
Building Teams that Thrive: Final Thoughts
Frameworks like Agile, Lean, or Six Sigma all offer value in specific contexts, but The Rocket Model provides something broader: a unifying system for understanding how teams function as living, interdependent systems.
In a world where collaboration drives competitive advantage, leaders who master the art and science of team dynamics hold the true edge. As The Rocket Model illustrates, when every component, purpose, people, and process is aligned, teams don’t just work. They thrive.
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