Team building

Team building

While teams and the ability to build and manage them can be vital for many businesses, it can be overdone. The idea has attracted so much attention that it is in danger of becoming a subcomponent all by itself of the consulting industry. The key thing, however, with teams as with all else in management, is to know why you’re using them, and then discipline your use to that purpose.

First of all, try to avoid twisting every issue or process it into a shape that calls for the use of a team to solve it. Some efforts simply lend themselves to standardized procedures, or even to focused isolation. The artificial promotion of a “team ethos” in every situation is soon recognized by employees for what it is: yet another poorly understood management fad that is used to manipulate workers, senior management, and shareholders alike. Never unthinkingly foist teams on every problem.

On the other hand, don’t overlook areas where teams can be useful. They can be used as permanent elements of your organizational structure for production or planning. Or, they can be ad-hoc groupings that enter into and out of existence as the need or opportunity arises. Examples could be, of course, certain problem solving, crisis-handling, or new product/service generation events. But they could also be superior ways to audit aspects of your company’s performance, from customer relations management to efficiency. They can even be excellent vehicles for performing strategic scanning.

A key thing about teams is how to structure their control. It is often best to not assign a leader. Instead, assign a manager who is not a team member to supervise and monitor team performance. This manager will act in a stand-off manner, using periodic briefings to relay objectives to the team (with its feedback), monitor progress, and allocate assets. The team, however, will organize itself internally. It will pick its own leaders, assign members to take the point on various issues - given the objectives, resources, and timeline, it will manage itself. In fact, particularly for specialty teams, it is often best to let the team self-recruit through posting of the team requirement, and then self manage under the guidance of the non-team manager.

That, after all, is what a team is - a self-motivating, self-managing entity that, while collaboratively pursuing a corporate goal larger than itself, thinks and organizes/reorganizes on its feet as the situation evolves. You can’t insert management into such teams as a control. If you do, you don’t have a team at all - you just have another work unit following the instructions of a boss.

Have a great holiday weekend - we’ll meet again on Tuesday.