15 June 2009
Successful Intentions Newsletter
Hi ,
Recovery from this recession depends on team work. But at what cost?
We're sold on the benefit of teams from an early age, and sometimes teams can do amazing things, but not for the reasons you think.
For example, it's generally thought that teams that work together harmoniously are better and more productive than teams that don't. But in a study conducted on symphonies, J. Richard Hackman, Professor of Social and Organizational Psychology at Harvard University, found that grumpy orchestras played together slightly better than orchestras in which all the musicians were really happy!
That's because when we're productive and we're recognized for doing something good together, we feel satisfied, not the other way around.
Here are some keys to building better teams:
- Small is beautiful: As a team gets bigger, the number of links that need to be managed among team members goes up exponentially. The ideal size is around six. No double digits!
- Teams that stay together, play together: Teams need the chance to settle in. And generally the longer a team spends together, the better the performance. For example, a NASA study found that fatigued crews who had a history of working together made half as many errors as crews who were rested but had not flown together before.
- Honour the deviants: Every team needs a deviant, someone who asks the difficult questions and pushes the team out of their comfort zone. Research shows teams with deviants outperform teams without them. In many cases, deviant thinking is a source of great innovation.
- First impressions count: What happens within the first few minutes a group meets strongly affects how the group operates throughout its entire life - where the group is going, what the relationship will be between the team leader and the group, and what basic norms of conduct will be expected and enforced.
- All that jazz: Team members can be ruthless with team leaders. As a leader it's best to exploit your strengths and get help in areas of weakness. The best team leaders are like jazz players, improvising constantly as they go along.
- Get real: Virtual teams are all the rage, but they need the basic conditions for effectiveness just as much as face-to-face teams, if not more. Even well-structured virtual teams need a launch meeting with everyone present, a mid-point face-to-face check in, and live debriefing.
- Support team development: Coaching individual team members doesn't help teams perform any better according to recent findings. Coaching must focus on team processes to generate measurable benefits. Team coaching is about encouraging better teamwork on the task, not about enhancing individual member's social interactions or interpersonal relationships.
Get more information about Team Coaching for you and your team here.
And go to my "Wisdom Circle" blog for musings, research, and applications of practical wisdom!
Keep your intentions clear,
Peter Webb
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