Shatter the Hero Culture Organizational Strategies to Boost Teamwork

The hero is the one-man expert who plagues the workplace.

He is truly one-of-a-kind because people rely on him whenever they run into a problem. You can see him at every meeting, eagerly asserting his decisions. And to top it all, he keeps complaining without providing meaningful solutions.

Corporate heroes bring about a slew of problems by forcing employees to overspecialize, impeding innovation, and messing with team dynamics.

But at its core, being a hero is an attitude people have developed to adapt to the corporate world, where going above and beyond is the norm. Think about it. Recruiting is now solely focused on technical skills, overtime work is praised and individual planning with no regards for the team is commonplace. Companies have learned to use heroes to build a "do-best" culture.

The key for a lasting transformation is to first understand what a hero is, how his behavior influences the working environment, and then to use some strategies to improve team collaboration. Only in this way can the company culture change so it can thrive without full-time heroes ready to save the day.

Shatter the Hero Culture proposes a pragmatic approach to transform companies and improve working environments without the need for corporate heroes.