It’s platitude that no business is built or run single-handedly by one person. Whether it is small, medium or large business, it takes teamwork to run it, be it to run the daily operations or execute a change initiative or any specific purpose project. Isn’t it true that teamwork is at play all the time in all the businesses? For want of specific context, typical teams that we see commonly in any business are;
- Management teams: though many experts may argue that management functions are organized in a hierarchical structure and are thus not a team per se. However, in my view, a senior level group of functional heads who collaborate on an on-going basis to strategize, plan, manage & lead to achieve business goals is a team simply because it requires teamwork for business to perform. Such teams are usually led by business head / CEOs. I would like to see them as cross-functional team with a shared goal of running & growing the business.
- Project teams: typically, a team of required resources with required skills assigned to deliver a shared goal. Led by a project manager.
- Research & development teams: typically, a cross-functional team with a shared goal to design a product or service.
- Supply chain teams; typically, a functional team which operates to procure, move, store & deliver the product or service. Usually led by a functional head.
Degree of ease with which any organization can successfully accomplish any of the above operations directly depend on the degree of cohesiveness in their teams.
For focus sake, I intend to take the context of ‘management teams’ for this blog because of its high level of impact on business and degree of complexity to lead such a team. I do not mean to imply other teams are unimportant. Moreover, principles we will unearth & discuss are equally applicable to other type of teams.
Making management teams work effectively is in the interest of leaders and team members alike because there are huge benefits of cohesive teams at this level and on the other side significant costs (tangible & intangible) & ill-effects if it does not work. Outcome of ineffective teamwork at this level could spill over on market perception, customer experience, competitor’s advantage and suppliers of the organizations and impact workforce & the internal working dynamics in terms of behavior of the team members.
Despite a lot of concerted effort few teams seem to work cohesively to succeed but there are many others which struggle or even fail.
Obvious questions are why? What makes it so hard? What stops them from working cohesively? Let me share my experience and observations. Teams repeatedly struggle & none of them is because they intend to but how they are designed, led and managed.
Few but important changes (levers) could yield dramatic results for leaders wanting to make their teams work cohesively.
While there are several reasons why such teams fall apart but following are most damaging to the work culture of the organization.
- Most important force at play in case of Management teams is the misalignment of the goals at the functional level that each team member is protecting as part his/her functional responsibility. When the overall business goals (topline, bottom-line, margins, etc) are cascaded down to functional goals (e.g.; customer acquisition, retention and satisfaction, project margins, cash-flows, collections, operations service levels etc..) they often create the conflicts between management team members. For e.g.; while sales may be wanting to lure customers with better discounts or downplaying risks, finance is arguing against it to safeguard their margin goals, cash-flow & risk management.
- Though the source of the conflict is the misaligned functional goals, the acrimony that results from such workplace interactions over a period becomes an accepted way of working in the organizations. Moreover, individual competitiveness amongst the management members fuels the conflict. The position the members hold in structure gives them enough power which amplifies the conflicting way of working & disrupts cohesive working. The silos so created at workplace hinders smooth information flow. Consequently, a ton of leadership bandwidth & energy is wasted in making the team of high-level competent team working towards common business goals. Organizations are so consumed with these internal conflicts & issues that even though some member may spot some futuristic trend in the external world but the organization response to it is best described as ‘hesitant’ due to internal resistance at play. Many businesses are caught off guard leading to losing ground in the industry or even failures.
- Third important lever where most organizations fail to create cohesive team behaviors is in their practices of Performance Management in the team context. Teams are often characterized by different behaviors & performances. Unless organization can fairly define, communicate, measure & reward the desired behavior and punish unwanted behavior, it could have devastating effect on the culture of the team working. Without deserving rewards, good behaviors will soon start fading and unpunished bad behaviors linger. Absence of a fair and transparent mechanism leads to chaos & soon teams lose their sheen & fall into mediocrity.
A quote from J K Rowling summarizes the situation aptly, “We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided”.
Challenge for leaders is to convert this ‘competitiveness’ into ‘collaborative’ culture & to harness the power of individuals and build a cohesive teams by mastering the above 3 areas
