Team Working
Somebody once said that no statues are put up for teams, just for outstanding individuals in whatever walk of life. Yet anybody who has worked in any kind of organisation from the armed forces to oil companies to law firms knows that the power of a group of people working together is far greater than the sum of the individuals who make up the whole.
The concept of "team" in this sense comes from sport. If you have played any team sport you will remember the individual stars who scored goals or trys or touch downs. But they could not exist or succeed in their sport without the unsung players who provide support and get them the ball or stop their opponents spoiling the play. The great American football coach Vince Lombardi said "individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work."
This theme is taken up in industry. Henry Ford said “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”
At General Electric (GE), Jack Welch required all managers should learn to become team players and coaches. He also took steps against those managers who wouldn't learn to become team players by cutting the bottom 10% every year. "One of the surest ways to raise the level of a team is to cut from the bottom and add to the top," advised Welch.
In the academic world The Harvard Business Review has an Insight Center:Making Collaboration Work which contains much sage advice on teamwork and what works and what doesn't.
In a football or soccer team a gifted individual player can actually hold the team back by refusing to pass the ball and always try to beat another opponent. Eventually he or she gets tackled and loses the ball. The critical starting point for any successful team is to get the right players together. Jim Collins in the book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't (available here) postulated that among other things that you had to "get the right people on the bus". It's pointless setting management or individual goals and then discovering that somebody on the team disagrees with them or worse still is only interested in pursing their own career and does not really believe in the power of the team. Like the skilled but selfish soccer player they will inevitably hold the group back.
Team working among professionals can be particularly challenging because the individuals are highly qualified and articulate and generally have a tendency to consider they are right. It has been elegantly described as herding cats or too many egos in the room. The result can be like a sports team where all the players are convinced they are stars and most reluctant to pass the ball. These sorts of groups need strong leadership, often by a fellow professional who is respected by all the others. These leaders will listen but will not allow individuals to overturn the common goals of the team by egocentric behaviour. They will eventually recognise when a consensus is reached and what it is, and impose this conclusion on the discussion.
The concept of "team" in this sense comes from sport. If you have played any team sport you will remember the individual stars who scored goals or trys or touch downs. But they could not exist or succeed in their sport without the unsung players who provide support and get them the ball or stop their opponents spoiling the play. The great American football coach Vince Lombardi said "individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work."
This theme is taken up in industry. Henry Ford said “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”
At General Electric (GE), Jack Welch required all managers should learn to become team players and coaches. He also took steps against those managers who wouldn't learn to become team players by cutting the bottom 10% every year. "One of the surest ways to raise the level of a team is to cut from the bottom and add to the top," advised Welch.
In the academic world The Harvard Business Review has an Insight Center:Making Collaboration Work which contains much sage advice on teamwork and what works and what doesn't.
In a football or soccer team a gifted individual player can actually hold the team back by refusing to pass the ball and always try to beat another opponent. Eventually he or she gets tackled and loses the ball. The critical starting point for any successful team is to get the right players together. Jim Collins in the book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't (available here) postulated that among other things that you had to "get the right people on the bus". It's pointless setting management or individual goals and then discovering that somebody on the team disagrees with them or worse still is only interested in pursing their own career and does not really believe in the power of the team. Like the skilled but selfish soccer player they will inevitably hold the group back.
Team working among professionals can be particularly challenging because the individuals are highly qualified and articulate and generally have a tendency to consider they are right. It has been elegantly described as herding cats or too many egos in the room. The result can be like a sports team where all the players are convinced they are stars and most reluctant to pass the ball. These sorts of groups need strong leadership, often by a fellow professional who is respected by all the others. These leaders will listen but will not allow individuals to overturn the common goals of the team by egocentric behaviour. They will eventually recognise when a consensus is reached and what it is, and impose this conclusion on the discussion.
Other Sources
Here are some other examples of the theory and practice of team working.
- See this Harvard Business School article on Sharpening your Skills: Managing Teams.
- And a Wikipedia page on Teamwork.
- And these books by R. Meredith Belbin Management Teams: Why they Succeed or Fail and Team Roles at Work.
Personal Examples
The Silent Minority. It is often the one person in the room who is generally quiet and reticent and as a result overlooked who has the answer. Too often he or she is drowned out by the opinionated and vocal majority who sometimes do not recognise that it is they who are drowning. I recall one especially difficult contract negotiation where both sides were at loggerheads at every level, management, technical, commercial and legal. The lawyer on the other side was very bright but self effacing and prone to apologising. She was not highly thought of by her own side, but should have been. Suddenly, just as we were all going to give up and go our respective ways, she quietly proposed a solution that no one had thought of. It proved to be a turning point and became the corner stone of the deal we eventually struck. One of the arts of managing a team is to look out for and recognise these individuals and give them space to contribute.
- Get the right people on the bus.
- Beware the gifted individuals who won't pass the ball.
- Look for the silent minority.
