How can organisations ensure their people work productively in teams?
For many organisations, ensuring their people work productively in teams has become increasingly important as global financial pressures force them to achieve more with less. Collaboration and teamwork are the new mantra.
It takes considerable effort and skill to establish and maintain high performing teams and recent studies suggest that few are up to the task. However, organisations can create challenges for teams by not going far enough in setting up support structures for teams to flourish. They hang on to individual reward systems whilst neglecting team incentives. They create a compelling strategy for the business but fail to knock down silos that block cooperation across groups.
One barrier to team performance is the common use of the word ‘team’ to describe what is more accurately defined as a ‘workgroup’. Workgroups consist of people working together. They may work in close proximity with one another and have broadly similar objectives but they lack the common purpose, complementary skills and interdependency that characterise real teams.
Another challenge lies with leaders themselves. A 2009 survey of over six thousand executives and managers found that team-building skills languish in the bottom 25 percent of performance-related competencies. The best team leaders know themselves and read others well. They set goals and delegate. They measure, correct and encourage. Put simply, they are enablers of others.
There are several models of team effectiveness available to bring out the best in teams. As a starting point, the team can explore a series of questions that will surface opportunities for improvement:
- To what extent do we have a clear purpose?
- Do we have an effective decision-making process?
- How well do we work together?
- Are our meetings efficient and productive?
- Do we hold each other accountable?
- Do we learn from our successes and failures?
Team leaders can facilitate the conversation around these questions but should keep in mind the specific role they play with the team. If they are active participants rather than directors of the team’s daily work they may prefer to have another person lead the session. It may also be useful to have a skilled moderator to deal with any sensitive issues that arise during the discussion.
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Julie Pigdon on
10 Aug 2010 12:14 PM
Hi Hilary,
I totally agree with your article, and valid and reliable psychometric Profiles are an efficient and effective way to answer the questions you pose. Teamwork is specifically undervalued as a tool to increase productivity and profit. Basically you are achieving more with the same resources and investment.
All the best with your programs!
Cheers
Julie Pigdon
Team Management Systems
www.tmsoz.com