The DNA of a Team
As a team coach, I can never stress enough the importance of strategically creating and developing teams, which ultimately unable organizations to effectively achieve results. As Patrick Lencioni, the author of “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team’, says, “Not finance. Not strategy. Not technology. It is teamwork that remains the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful and so rare”.
Having considered this, before organizations go about investing in teams, there are some basic principles to acknowledge. In this article I illustrate them step by step, so that we can clearly see what the essential requisites of a team are. I called these the DNA of a real team.
Task
The reason why a team exists is to complete a clear and well defined task that an individual alone is neither able to accomplish nor can fulfill as efficiently as a team would. For this reason, and only for this reason, a team is formed.
Think about running a marketing campaign for a global company like Coca Cola. Surely, such a task requires more than one person to design, execute and complete the campaign successfully. Undoubtedly, it requires a group of people who closely work together to plan and implement each and every phase of the campaign.
Interdependence
The task at hand can only be completed successfully when the individuals assigned to it interact, communicate, share information and debate decisions on a daily basis. The requirement here is that they work together, not only during meetings in which they brainstorm and design a plan of actions, but also outside meetings. Precisely, when they support each other in the implementation process, when they complete their collective assignments together and when they hold each other accountable.
When a group of people come together to accomplish a specific task that doesn’t require them to work interdependently, we simply have a “task-focused work group” but not a team. In such a scenario, group members can work individually to achieve their collective task.
The same applies when a group of people come together to make strategic decisions but the execution of the work is implemented by others. This is a “decision making body”, e.g. a board of directors, but certainly not a team.
Size
Believe it or not, size matters when a team is formed. A real team has a number of members that starts from two and stretches to twelve. As a matter of fact, a team should include the minimum number of members it needs to achieve its goals.
Common purpose
A team only exists when it has a “reason d’être,” which is the why that brings the individual members together to accomplish their collective task.
Consider an investigation team within a police department whose task is to find an abducted minor. Ultimately, the purpose of such team is to serve society to safeguard its most vulnerable members as well as to eradicate a horrendous crime. It’s a real call.
Performance Goals
Performance goals translate in a specific and time bound language what the team needs to achieve to complete the task successfully. Setting performance goals helps translate the purpose and, ultimately the task of the team, into practical actions. Otherwise, the purpose by itself remains a mere aspiration and a good intention which never materializes.
Complementary skills
With the task firmly in mind, organizations can clearly determine the technical and functional expertise needed for each team member. However, having complementary skills also means creating sufficient diversity in problem solving and decision making abilities as well as bringing to the table different working styles. To say the truth, this is a balance which is challenging to attain. As a matter of fact, it is found and it can be fine-tuned only when the team begins to work and its dynamics become apparent to all.
Diversity of skills is surely an element that helps a team be more innovative. Yet, research shows that too much diversity poses the risk of process losses due to misunderstanding and disagreement arising from different perspectives.
Indeed, designing a team requires strategic thinking and a series of evaluations which may include knowledge, technical capabilities and personality assessments. It is a skill itself, often calling for the work of talent management experts.
Shared approach
Having a shared approach means formally establishing and adopting principles, processes and protocols that unable the team to accomplish its task successfully. The more systematic and organized the shared approach, the fewer the chances of making mistakes and miss opportunities. Ultimately, the purpose of adopting a shared approach is to keep the team on the same page and provide clear guidelines on how the collective work needs to be executed.
Principles, processes and protocols have first to be identified by the team and eventually put into practice and adhered to, so that members can evaluate which ones enhance their work. As a matter of fact, processes and protocols are never irreversible or unchangeable. On the contrary, they may evolve as the team moves through different stages of its life.
For instance, making sure that weekly team meetings take place to check everyone is aligned through information sharing and decision making is consider a team process. Requesting content approval for the script of a marketing campaign is another example of a process or protocol a team may need to adhere to.
Accountability
Accountability is the ability of each team member to keep their commitments, spoken and unspoken, that tie them to the team work. Every team member is called to check and follow up on what was agreed upon. Such commitment is left with all the team members and not only with the team leader. Bottom line, in a team everyone is accountable.
In my work as a team coach I often come across pseudo teams, where some of the elements I illustrated above are clearly missing. To easily identify when a group of people constitutes a team, here are some simple questions that members can answer.
1) What can you do together that you cannot do by working individually?
2) Do you have objectives that require you to work collectively to be achieved? (Yes, as an answer).
3) Can you work for one consecutive week without communicating with or receiving input by your team members? (No, as an answer).
4) Do you have to be all present to decide on a particular strategy? (Yes, as an answer).
5) What can you do uniquely, that cannot be done by any other group or individuals?
If your organization is in the process of forming or re-forming a team, I invite you to reach out to us at bCoached for an initial conversation on how we can support you in your endeavor. Contact me directly: silvia@bcoached.org