Partner Article

Teamwork - more connection, less productivity

Teamwork has become an unchallenged technique in most modern organisations, yet unless managed effectively too much teamwork can result in too little productivity.

Many organisations run “one team” programs to encourage everyone in the business to cooperate closely. We adopt teamwork as a corporate value and as a selection, development and promotion criterion. In many organisations, to be accused of “not being a team player” is a kiss of death for your career. Our organisational leaders need to be aware that inadequate structuring of a team can add unnecessary cost, delay and dissatisfaction.

Teamwork has become much more complex; we work with colleagues in different locations, different functions and perhaps different cultures and time zones. The cost of team working has increased significantly, a face-to-face meeting for a distributed team can cost tens of thousands of pounds and consume many hours of travel. Even organising a global conference call can mean that someone is working late into the night, not really conducive to employee well-being.

Many managers will be operating in a matrix model, working with business partners, specialists and service centres. This means multiple bosses with competing goals, invitations to team meetings and a never-ending stream of emails, many of which are irrelevant to their specific role.

Research from Global Integration shows that on average middle managers are part of five different teams, they spend two days a week in meetings and half of the content is irrelevant to them. Up to 75% of their e-mails are not necessary for them to do their jobs. If any factory produced 50% scrap, we would close it tomorrow - yet we routinely accept this poor level of quality in our cooperation and communication.

Despite this step up in the complexity and cost of cooperation we are still firmly wedded to teamwork. But what if teamwork is the problem not the solution?

Part of the problem is that we call all forms of cooperation “teamwork”. In the book, Making the Matrix Work, Kevan Hall cites four distinctly different types of cooperation:

• Spaghetti teams – the classic idea of teams where people with a complimentary range of skills come together to work intensively on something that requires a collaborative goal. A good example of this is multifunctional problem-solving. This requires synchronous (same time) working so lots of meetings and calls.
• Star groups – a number of individuals with similar skills and jobs who are coordinated by the same manager. For example, a traditional sales “team” with individuals working for a sales manager. Groups thrive on one to one contact with occasional group events focused only on issues of common relevance.
• Cloud communities – groups of people who share a common interest and identity, such as functional or best practice communities. Increasingly these meet online or at occasional events designed to advance the interests of the whole community.
• Purposeful networks – deliberately constructed and managed patterns of connection between individuals that enables them to stay in touch and connect easily if they need to work together.

Each of these forms of cooperation needs to be set up, managed and supported differently. A lot of waste in cooperation comes from trying to treat all members of a group in the same way.

For example, many people who lead star groups insist on having “team meetings” and ask for regular status and activity reviews. In a team, you need to know this information because you are interdependent with the other members, in a group it’s often irrelevant, and these meetings can be a frustrating waste of time.

People often confuse team structure – how we work together, with team spirit – how it feels. You can build great relationships and trust in a group, you just don’t have to share everything. Simpler ways of co-operation, or even empowering individuals to get on and do their job can simplify communication, streamline decision-making and increase engagement. So, next time you tell someone “you are not a team player” I hope it will be in praise.

http://www.global-integration.com

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Global Integration .