Leading Business Teams: The Definitive Guide to Optimizing Organizational Performance

In a rapidly changing world, businesses must create a high-performing, metrics-driven workplace environment characterized by respect, inclusion, teamwork, innovation, and overall harmony—and it must be manageable and sustainable. This book shows that returning to managerial basics will provide the way forward, as exemplified by legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, the model for a new people management pathway: the SCORE paradigm.Generally considered the greatest coach in history, John Wooden’s recipe for team success was unique, culture-based, and ahead of its time. Building upon Wooden’s 21 coaching principles and his own 35 years of experience as a human resources leader, Bill Kane has created the SCORE framework to guide people managers in creating and nurturing effective teams and steering their organizations through times of change: Staffing: Attracting and selecting talent Cultivating culture: Defining how people should interact Organizing and planning: The need for direction and focus Reinforcing desirable behavior: Managing performance Engaging your team: A leader’s role and responsibility Enlivened with stories from the careers of Coach Wooden, Andy Hill (a three-time national champion under Coach), and the author, the book clearly explains why each coaching principle works in practice and provides examples of success, as well as pitfalls to avoid. Readers will learn how to get the right people on their team, create meaningful participative and inclusive management practices, build a winning organizational culture, and achieve heightened results.New and experienced people managers and leaders in corporate settings, as well as business and organizational psychology students, will appreciate this timeless reference tool, a roadmap to help people managers—as their own “work-in-progress”—develop strategies for success based upon a proven and simple model.

About the Author

William S. Kane is a faculty member at the Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations. Prior to joining Rutgers, he was a highly accomplished leader in the Human Resources field in the Fortune 500 . Author of Thriving in Change and a lifelong learner with four advanced degrees, Bill’s specific expertise is in helping companies plan and execute sustainable people strategies associated with profitable business transformations.

Andrew Hill is a successful author and motivational speaker. His book, Be Quick – But Don't Hurry: Finding Success in the Teachings of a Lifetime , is now in its 15th printing. From January 1991 to April 1996, Andrew Hill served as president of CBS Productions. During Mr. Hill’s presidency, CBS Productions became the network’s leading supplier of primetime programs and returned more than $1.5 billion in foreign and domestic syndication income. During his tenure at CBS Productions, Hill was responsible for some of the decade’s most successful primetime programming including Touched by an Angel ; Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman ; Walker, Texas Ranger; and Caroline in the City .