Togetherness: How to Build a Winning Team (Team Building)

Why do some teams defy the odds - winning when they have no right to, fighting back from impossible positions, becoming greater than the sum of their parts? And why do others, packed with talented individuals, fail to live up to their potential?

The answer is togetherness.

In this groundbreaking book, Dr Matt Slater (Chartered Psychologist, Staffordshire University academic, and a decade-long consultant to elite sport teams and businesses) reveals the science behind what makes teams truly exceptional. Drawing on cutting-edge social identity research, his own landmark studies (including analysis of national anthem performances at UEFA Euro 2016 that predicted match outcomes), and real-world experience working at the highest levels of sport and business, Slater provides a compelling blueprint for building a team that is more than just a group of people wearing the same colours.

At the heart of the book is Slater's practical 3R model - Reflect, Represent, Realise - a framework that any leader, coach, or team member can use to identify shared values, forge a powerful collective identity, and translate that unity into sustained high performance.

From the All Blacks' culture of responsibility and sacrifice, to the cult of Ibis Sport - the football team whose fans were furious when they started winning - Togetherness is packed with insights that will challenge how you think about teams, identity, and what it really means to win together.

Whether you lead a sports team, a boardroom, or a classroom, this book will show you how to move from a room full of "me's" to a team full of "we's."

Teams win matches. Teams with togetherness win championships - and make history.

Dr Matt Slater is an academic at Staffordshire University, a Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol) with the British Psychological Society, and an internationally recognised researcher. Academically, and as a practitioner, Matt is a world-renowned expert on togetherness. For more than 10 years, Matt has consulted with a range of elite sport teams, businesses, and health providers to develop togetherness and team building. Matt's work has been featured in The Times, The Independent, and across international radio stations; he has been published in leading research journals.