Looking back to look forward: If you’re building your team agenda for 2013, perhaps ask yourself what you can learn from the best teams of 2012.

Return every day to discover our other "Superteams of 2012". 

Tomorrow - Scientific Superteam of the Year.

Our Political Superteam of 2012

Obama's campaign team

Barack Obama’s victory in the US elections in November could easily be attributed to the weakness of his opponent.

However, a large part of his successful re-election can legitimately be attributed to the operations and transformations within his campaign team, which was dubbed as the largest political machine created … ever.

Not only did he set up thousands of offices set up in battleground swing-states, he also identified the need to enhance his digital campaign.

Digital campaigning had served him well during his first campaign in 2008, but his team saw an opportunity to pioneer new political tools and techniques.

Through this vision, and the employment of Harper Reed as chief technology officer and a number of other top technology "nerds", Obama’s team delivered a next generation campaign that suited next generation voters.

The digital technology used in Obama’s re-election was an unprecedented driver of success. A team of engineers from Facebook, Twitter and Google built bespoke software that expanded upon the traditional political machine.

Alexis Madrigal's piece in the The Atlantic describes the impact of Obama's tech team perfectly:

"The tech team's key products -- Dashboard, the Call Tool, the Facebook Blaster, the PeopleMatcher, and Narwhal -- made it simpler and easier for anyone to engage with the President's re-election effort.

The nerds shook up an ossifying Democratic tech structure and the politicos taught the nerds a thing or two about stress, small-p politics, and the meaning of life."

Read this article here: "When the Nerds Go Marching In"

Obama’s campaign team were not just quick to see the opportunities in digitalized politics, they were quick to adapt to it.

This goes in stark comparison with the Republican campaign's efforts. A last gasp attempt to replicate Obama's digital prowess ended with something called "Orca", a digital tool which crashed early on election day after the vast majority of users failed to get it working.

Team Talk

So what can we learn from the Obama re-election team's openness to new campaigning techniques?

A simple tenet that any team could take away with them is this: adapt or die.

The exponential growth of social media over a small number of years was an opportunity that many politicians may have overlooked. Having the foresight and guile to implement such a wide stream of activities in this field was a bold strategy, but it proved its value.

Beyond this decision to implement an enhanced digital presence, there remained the important task of making it work. The Obama team had to build the case for change, encouraging the best possible payback from any new activities.

The team also had to make sure the "nerds" were as committed to the campaign team as the other departments.

Hope and fear are both powerful motivational tools for teams. In fact, motivating your team into action through fear of failure can be as effective as giving them hope of success.

This style of leadership was apparent in Obama’s campaign chief Jim Messina. On the day he employed Harper Reed, he told him, "Welcome to the team. Don't fuck it up." 

The strategy of transforming and adapting an already successful and cohesive unit underlines why innovation is not only important in failing teams. It is just as important to anticipate the need for change in the future as it is to react to necessary change in the present.

The legacy left by Obama’s successful re-election, especially amidst such negative economic indicators, provides a lesson for any team resistant to change: learn to adapt quickly .... or die.

Return to the blog tomorrow to see our "Scientific Superteam of the Year", and read more about adapt of die to start creating your team agenda for action today.

Read the full article from the Atlantic here: "When the Nerds Go Marching In"

Written by Sam Ramsden

See Khoi Tu speak at the RSA or follow his story on Twitter @buildsuperteams