For the last 30 days during executive coaching sessions, I have encountered many questions related to teams and team work. Many senior executives and middle managers are completely stumped on why their teams are struggling or becoming more and more dysfunctional over the course of this summer.
In order to offer perspective about such an important topic, I have had to help people pull back from the challenges of this summer and look at the issue over the course of the last three years.
First, 2018 and 2019 were challenging times. We forget this because 2020 was brutal. Still, we need to recognize that during these two years before the pandemic teams were stretch by fluctuating market conditions and uncertainty. The result was that many teams entered into 2020 struggling and worn.
And then in March, the global pandemic arrived in full force. Highly functional teams with many heritage relationships handled the initial impact of the pandemic fairly well. They could switch into a high degree of teamwork and collaboration. They focused on how to maintain operational continuity and customer service with its mix of adaptive and technical problems.
However, most teams struggled in late March through early June of 2020. If they had any degree of dsyfunctionality going into the pandemic, it just got worse because of the need for fast execution, and in-depth problem solving.
From my vantage point, most struggling teams during the second and third quarters of 2020 de-evolved into single leader work groups. This would be a normal response during a crisis situation where time is of the essence. But the difficulty over time is that many single leader work groups actually became “a genius with a thousand helpers” mode of operations, citing the work of Jim Collins in his book, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap. . . and Others Don't (HarperBusiness, 2001). The difficulty of this model of operations is that the “genius” becomes a hub through which all communications and decisions have to take place. And when working in a highly adaptive problem solving period over a long period of time, the genius does not have enough time, energy or perspective to make the best decisions. It becomes reactive leadership that leads to decision fatigue and team disengagement.
As 2020 moved into the fourth quarter and then into 2021, many teams and single leader work groups plus numerous burned out geniuses continued to de-evolve. Under more and more pressure to solve problems quickly and people’s natural tendency to silo up during extended periods of high stress and low control, most teams became work groups.
Within a work group, the members of the group interact primarily to share information or perspective, and to make decisions to help each individual perform within his or her area of responsibility. There is no reason for either a team approach or a level of mutual accountability. To members within a work group, team building activities are pointless and take time that could better be spent “doing real work.” In short, the focus is to share information and then for me to get back to getting my work done. There is no focus on collective goals or collective solutions.
This situation has been compounded by the lack of analog or face to face team interactions. With everyone meeting on digital platforms like Zoom or Teams over such a long period of time, the 2D world of digital communications has made communication between people focus on getting things done. Task management has become more important than relationship management. And this never leads to improved teamwork or collaboration.
So, recognizing that the pandemic is not going away anytime soon, and this has resulted in a massive amount of team de-evolution in combination with silo behaviors at the individual level, what do we do?
First, it is time to rebuild our teams. It is team building 101 all over again. Begin by clearly defining who is on the team and why. Next, define the purpose of the team and how they will measure progress and success. Then, clarify expectations about communication before, during and after team meetings. Finally, discuss decision-making within the team.
Remember there have been numerous good books and articles on the subject. It is time to reread or consult these resources. The solution is to consciously focus on building or rebuilding your team. In the end, you want a highly cohesive team that focuses on collective goals and collective responsibility.
These are challenging times. Therefore, we need healthy teamwork and collaboration in order to be resilient in the midst of it all. Now is the time to create healthy teams moving in the same direction. When you do this, you and your company will handle whatever happens next in any market, against any competition, at any time.
No comments:
Post a Comment