CREATING A ONE-TEAM ORGANIZATION by John Lyden Team effectiveness is no small topic. Researchers and writers dedicate volumes to the subject. Theories abound, as do how-to books and training classes. We have studied the books and participated in, and sometimes led, a number of the classes. But mainly, we have been in the field, working with companies to help them achieve their goals. It is from this perspective—years of team effectiveness coaching and change management consulting—that we write. Teams are an essential method of organizing work in business. How well these teams function indicates how much the company will achieve. Through these experiences, we understand that teams are an essential method of organizing work in business. No leader we know of thinks a project can be completed; a major change, implemented; or a culture, transformed through the work of a single individual. It takes teams, and often teams of teams, focused on a common purpose to move the needle. Performance in business is the domain of teams. And how well these teams function indicates how much the company will achieve. This paper is a compilation of four blogs I first published for Expressworks, International. Together these blogs provide an overview of what we at Expressworks believe are the most important aspects of teamwork. Many of us, at some point in our careers, have the experience of being on a great team. It is an experience we never forget. Energy and animated conversation come naturally. People laugh. Life-long friendships can be formed. Discussions are honest with differences ironed out in candid conversation. Trust abounds, rooted in personal credibility and mutual respect, along with an almost unbreakable commitment to an effort larger than ourselves. And, perhaps most importantly, great work gets done—meaningful work that gives team members a sense of pride and accomplishment and that gives the company the results it wanted. In this paper, I share stories and my experiences working with great teams. But, I realize team experiences are not always so positive. Because teams are essential to getting work done in organizations, I know other people have their stories, too. I asked a colleague of mine to tell her experiences—both positive and negative—about working on teams. Here is her story. 1 A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE FROM AN EXPRESSWORKS CONSULTANT It Was the Best of Teams… In 1997, I was on a great team, and more than twenty years later, I remember it well. Five of us, including the leader, were charged by the CEO of our 30,000-employee, international manufacturing company to ensure that the non-IT areas of the company were ready for the Y2K switch-over. This included all manufacturing, assembly / test, security, emergency, and plant systems in our global facilities. I didn’t know it at the time, but this was the perfect stage for a high-performing team. We were a small group of dedicated, competent people with different skills (business / technology analysis, communication, process engineering, project management) who were tasked to accomplish a vital company goal. In fact, our team fit the definition of a team according to Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith in their classic book, The Wisdom of Teams:1 A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. Over the three-year effort, we established a unique company-wide Y2K vocabulary; implemented common standards, processes and systems for testing and recording readiness data; created a governance model for accountability; tracked and reported progress; provided an exception process for the systems that could not be adjusted; and, in preparation for the event, conducted Y2K simulations in a few of our manufacturing plants. I spent New Year’s Eve, 1999, with my team in our on-site control center, celebrating as the “All-is-Well” check-ins swept the new millennium across Asia and Europe and finally the U.S. It is one of my favorite New Year’s Eve memories. “A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.” It Was the Worst of Teams… Conversely, we all know the deadening effect of being on a low-performing team. Commitment stalls; team members miss meetings and deliverables; effort dilutes as barriers crop up. Frustrations rise as people lose confidence and trust in the leader and each other. And then, typically, the project limps to a close with a flurry of empty activities and little accomplishment. The final status report is sent to the sponsor with little interest in or, even, expectation of a response. There is no sense of pride and no joy of accomplishment. 1Jon R. Katzenbach, Jon R. and Smith, Douglas K. The Wisdom of Teams, Boston, Harvard Business Review Press, 1993. 2 About five years ago, I was on a team with six bright, highly capable, self-motivated people. Regardless, the team leader micro-managed us. He meticulously scrutinized all output, even though we had been told to provide an 80 percent solution. Insignificant words were closely examined, and phrases were laboriously re-worked to convey minor subtleties. In the end, the team used meeting time to discuss the best ways to avoid editing sessions with the leader. We also kept a running tally of the number of rewrites each of us had. The once empowered, highly energetic team down-shifted into low gear well before the project ended. At about the same time, a colleague of mine was the change consultant for a cross-functional effort to consolidate and improve a significant core administrative process spanning multiple lines of business (LOBs) within the company. The team leader reassured the team (as reportedly he had been reassured by his executive vice-president) that the only goal for the initiative was process improvement. LOB team members were also reassured that organizational change was out of scope. However, the EVP had a reputation for empire building and, based on her past behavior, team members were suspicious of the true motives behind the initiative. To overcome their skepticism and reluctance to commit to the effort, the team leader repeatedly and publicly guaranteed that org change was not in the picture. Team members suspended their skepticism and committed to the effort. The team was engaged, and work was progressing well. At the 11th hour, the team leader abruptly changed his position. Whether he buckled under pressure from the EVP or made his own choice, it didn’t matter. Despite his prior guarantees, reorganization was suddenly in the center of the table, very much in scope. The reaction was instantaneous; the team revolted. This was the “land grab” they suspected in the first place. Team members felt betrayed. They stopped working and quit the team. Their LOBs, retreating behind silo walls, refused to provide replacement resources. The effort quickly fizzled and the team leader lost respect and reputation. It’s counter intuitive that business leaders don’t commit the time and effort needed to get their employees and themselves really good at working in teams. Unfortunately, it seems most of us have more stories about working on low-performing teams than on high-performing ones. It seems great team experiences are rare. What a shame. Teams are the basic work unit for business and for good reason. A group of people working together can produce more and better work than someone working alone. It’s counter intuitive that business leaders don’t see that value and commit the time and effort needed to get their employees and themselves really good at working in teams. Expressworks believes team effectiveness is the core of business performance. It is the heart of building an organization’s capabilities and capacities. Without it, a company’s potential for significant success and lasting achievement is diminished. 3 PART ONE ONE-TEAM LAYS THE FOUNDATION FOR ALL TEAMS The word “team” is one we frequently and quite off-handedly use. Like coaches, business leaders often call upon their employees to work together. “We need this organization to work as one team,” they might say. “We need to get everyone on the same page.” Or more directly, “We need more teambuilding.” Leaders might voice complaints about “misalignment” and “lack of engagement.” We value the work we know teams can produce, but do we really understand what it takes to do great team work? Yet, business is often organized around teams—executive, project, functional teams—to name a few, each with the need for people to work together to do great things. We value the work we know teams can produce, but do we really understand what it takes to do great team work? For a leader to lament a lack of teamwork isn’t unusual. Just because a leader recognizes the power of teams, doesn’t mean the leader understands what it takes to create a work environment where teams thrive, or that the leader knows how to change a culture where internal forces and ingrained behaviors are strong barriers to teamwork. Let’s look at a few well-known companies to better understand what “working as one-team” means. The LEGO group doesn’t just make snap-together plastic building blocks in varying shapes and sizes, it seeks to “Inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow.” Its vision is “Inventing the future of play.”2 Lego is a great example of a company that knows a one-team culture starts with a shared, compelling, and meaningful purpose—something all team members want to be a part of.