Wageman believes that coaching is most effective when it is done sparingly. Team leaders frequently tell Wageman that their top priority is to coach. That priority is misplaced. Left untreated, this common condition can quickly escalate into all-out infighting. A team should never underestimate the importance of agreeing on how to be a team.
Trouble is, every team has at least one iconoclast.
Ruddy developed a deck of 35 playing cards to deal with these rule-breakers. Each card lists a situation that the team is likely to confront. Then they make a copy of the whole deck for everyone on the team. Xerox's service teams, for example, have a card noting that in meetings, everyone's opinion will be heard. That's when the team really starts to click.