Examination: Why Teams Don\'t Work

¶ … Teams Don't Work

Idea in Brief

While conventional wisdom might dictate otherwise, teams aren't always the most effective means for accomplishing goals within your organization.

How to Make the Most from your Team:

Designate a Deviant: this is the person who will prevent the team from acting in a too conventional manner. This person will ensure that the team doesn't fall into some sort of rut when it comes to creative thinking.

Avoid double digits. No team should be bigger than nine, as then it can be too easy for some team members not to contribute and for others to dominate.

Keep the team together: the members of the team should remain consistent and not change constantly. Such a thing keeps the entire process on the straight and narrow.

Be ruthless about membership: decide who can and who cannot be a member of the team. Only allow members who genuinely want to participate and who will benefit the greater good of the team.

e. Set a compelling direction. All team members should be on the same page regarding the overall objective and should feel excited about this objective.

f. Embrace your own quirkiness: most team leaders are never going to resemble the textbook case of a team leader. It's okay if you deviate from the norm. Embrace that amount of quirkiness.

g. Embrace and develop your abilities to engage in coaching on group processes so that the team can truly reap all the benefits of being part of a team. Things that one can do in this regard are as follows: run a launch meeting, engage in midpoint reviews, and reflect on what went well and poorly during team meetings.

h. Protect your deviant. The deviant is the person who asks the tough difficult questions, questions which can raise the anxiety levels of other people. It can too easily manifest that the other team members gang up on the deviant as he raises their anxiety levels. However, this isn't fair. It's important that the deviant be able to speak out continually, as this is the person who prevents the team from engaging in boring, homogenous thinking.

II. Reasons why teams consistently underperform:

a. Problems with coordination.

b. Problems with collaboration.

c. Problems with motivation.

d. Problems with understanding who is actually on the team. The boundaries need to be clear as do the exact individuals who are members.

e. Poor leadership: A team needs a strong direction and it's generally up to the leader to provide one. "Leaders who are emotionally mature are willing and able to move toward anxiety-inspired situations as they establish a clear, challenging team direction."

III. Common Fallacies About Teams

a. Harmonious teams work together better. Team where there is some discord actually produces better work, some research has demonstrated.

b. Bigger teams are better than smaller teams.

c. Team members become so comfortable with one another that they start to accept one another's foibles. Newness is actually a liability when it comes to the proper functioning of teams.

IV. Truths about Teams

a. Teams who have worked together before make less mistakes.

b. The deviant in the team is a crucial member who is able to prevent the team from becoming complacent. The deviant raises the anxiety levels of teams, which is a brave thing to do, and asks the tough questions that no one else wants to ask.

c. Good teams will do the following: satisfy both internal and external clients, become stronger over time, and foster the learning and development process of individual members.

d. Teams still create their own realities and destinies to a certain extent, and far sooner in their existence than many people realize.

e. The first few minutes at the start of any social system are the most important because they establish where the group is going and what the overall relationship will be among the members and what the norms of conduct will be.

f. Don't try to mimic other leadership models; instead, embrace your own quirkiness.

V. How to Build a Team

a. Teams must be real.

b. Teams need a compelling direction.

c. Teams need enabling structures.

d. Teams need supportive organization.

e. Teams need expert coaching: for a team to reap the benefits of coaching it needs to focus on the group processes as a whole.

f. Team coaching is about creating a better performance when it comes to the task at hand, not about creating smoother social interactions between members.

d. Virtual teams can be effective, but they still need to adhere to the actual guidelines set forth by real, physical teams. They still need a clear consensus of members and to check in with those members, etc.

VI. Realities of Team

a. Organizations should be able to re-evaluate their importance and structure. Organizations need to stop devaluing the accomplishments of individuals.