Teamwork is how we organise most of the work in organisations, yet it is surprising how poorly it can be executed, even by the most seasoned of professionals. What does it takes for teams to rise from mediocre performance to make teams exceptional performance?
Teamwork – a modern myth?
A recent team event with a group which had been working together for a year showed a distinct lack of teamwork. That’s not unusual you might retort, but given that this is a group of mature professionals who ‘specialise’ in the areas of teams, leadership & behaviours, the resulting malaise is a bit surprising.
We could analyse this team looking at one of the classic team models such as Belbin’s Team roles (see: www.belbin.com) and perhaps the reason that the team was struggling was due to the lack of investment early-on, in understanding each others styles and working preferences in a team setting.
If this was a group of freshly recruited individuals, thrown together with little support and little understanding of how people change in a group setting, then we might expect the group to potentially descend into chaos. However, the group in question had knowledge of leadership and team development and indeed individually were providing this support to others in the organisation.
The difference between Knowledge and Learning
At the heart of the work that we do is change. For long-lasting change to occur it requires learning. For learning to be meaningful and permanent it requires some form of behavioural change. Learning therefore goes well beyond knowledge acquisition –‘I understand a model and can recite a theory to others’ – to behavioural follow through – ‘my position and viewpoint have altered, along with my interventions with others in response to my new understanding’.
Breaking the cycle of non- performance
The Forming, Norming, Storming & Performing model by Tuckman tells the story of development and discovery not dissimilar to the classic epics. We start out in earnest, wanting to put our best foot forward. We then fall into the roles and norms of the team – both consciously and unconsciously. We then face some major storms along our journey – at which point we can choose to go onwards, or turn back.
For teams to achieve high performance, another they have to go through a number of stages of development. The team in question lacked a common purpose, a commitment to succeed and an honesty in their dialogue with each other. At some level the choice had been made by the team members not to hold the difficult conversations that would have helped them to get through the Stoming phase and move through to a performing team.
If we are brave enough to go through the storm we see the prize at the other end – in this case a team that is confident, has belief in itself and is able to bring high performance to everything it does.
Like the moral in stories like The Illiad, the message for modern day teamwork is one of belief, courage and honesty. We need all three before we can break through the barrier of mediocrity. Isn’t that what we could conclude for all aspects of modern living, leadership, teamwork and personal integrity need a magic blend of all three to bring that extra sparkle to our performance. As for the team in question, we are starting with honesty first. The ability to hold the difficult conversations will be the key to their progress along their own journey.
What are your experiences of teamwork in your organisation. Please post your comments here or email us on feedback@agents2change.com
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