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By Sharda Prashad
Illustration: Cathy Pentland
 A HOW-TO GUIDE FOR TAKING YOUR TEAM THROUGH THE HONEYMOON PHASE TO HOMEBASE
We have all heard of companies that have implemented a team approach to their organizational structure and have been rewarded with a substantial increase to the bottom line. At the same time, your firsthand experience with teams may not be as positive. Perhaps you encountered a freeloader problem where you put forth all the effort while other members were content to sit back and contribute nothing. Worse, maybe it was a case where the dynamic was so poor that the team had to be dissolved.
Despite the impression you may have about teams, their contribution has been linked to successful outcomes. For example, Black&Decker Dustbuster, Corning optical fibres and the IBM PC have been attributed to high performing teams. More important, these teams have not just been noted for product development but also for increased productivity and profit. With this correlation, it's not surprising more organizations worldwide are using teams as a part of their basic operating structure. However, the results may not always be the desired ones; if they are improperly implemented, teams can be detrimental to your firm, leading to a decrease in morale, productivity and even profit. Teams that function poorly have been blamed for Xerox's failure to commercialize the personal computer (developed before Apple) and for Dupont and Ford each losing more than $1 billion on failed projects.
To increase your organization's odds of implementing a successful team and the associated positive results, there are several things you and your organization can do.
To implement a team successfully, you must understand what a team is and distinguish it from a working group. This will enable you to determine if a team is required for
a project. Authors/consultants Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith define team as a "small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable."
In contrast to a team, which has individual and collective goals and accountability, a group's members focus on individual accountability and goals. For example, managers meeting regularly to provide status updates are a team only if the managers have interdepartmental accountabilities and goals. If the managers focus just on intradepartmental goals and accountabilities, then they are a group. Groups pose fewer risks than a team because members need focus only on individual goals and performance, not on the goals and performance of both the individual and the team.
Marilyn Laiken, a professor of adult education at the University of Toronto and president of organizational development consultants Laiken Associates, agrees that in today's workplace it's common to label a group a team. She argues that most of these so-called teams are actually groups that lack the shared accountability and/or interdependency required for successful teams.
Once you understand what a team is, Laiken says, you are in a better position to ensure your organization uses teams in the right circumstance. For instance, a team is more appropriate if an increase in human efficiency will result in increased productivity. Situations that fall outside of this requirement, including jobs requiring only one basic skill or else highly specialized skills, are less suitable for a team approach. Richard Hackman, professor of social and organizational psychology at Harvard University, specifies that such situations could include "tasks like creative writing and executive leadership. Not many symphonic scores, great novels or epic poems were written by a team. This kind of work involves bringing to the surface material ... deep in one's unconscious. The same is true ... for executive leadership. For all the attention being given to top management ... the majority of successful organizational startups and turnarounds are led by a single inspired outrageous individual."
Your firm should be aware a team is not the solution in all situations. Before implementing a structure, examine the project at hand. Consider such questions as: does it require a team effort or can individuals better complete the project? Are shared accountabilities necessary to achieve results? Will all team members share a common goal? After ensuring a need for a team, members are selected. While you may not have that option for your project, you should be aware that some people are better suited for team work than others.
Qualities of effective team members were defined in a 2001 survey by Carl Larson and Frank LaFasto. They examined 15,000 assessments and found that effective team members are evaluated by their peers based on skills and competencies, the attitudes they display and the behaviours they engage in. Attributes that signify an effective team member include:
- experience such as expert knowledge and competence a member brings to the team;
- possessing an active versus a passive orientation to task completion;
- maintaining the ability to support the success of others without believing this will impair your own chance for success;
- a positive personal style that does not criticize or demean others;
- being open to the opinion of others and adjusting your behaviour to this feedback.
The study concluded that an effective team member adds value by addressing issues, demonstrating personal leadership, building trust and confidence, and bringing out the best thinking and attitudes of all in the group. It will be hard to create a team where all members possess all the cited attributes. But be conscious that team members will have gaps in their ability to interact in a team setting and coaching may be required.
Another critical factor for ensuring success is understanding a team requires time to develop and affording it the time to do so. Laiken argues a common disservice to employees is that organizations don't offer sufficient training in team development. Without it, she feels, teams are destined to fail: employees are left feeling incompetent about their ability to interact in a team setting as they don't understand how to. Second, employers are frustrated by their decision to use teams because of the lack of immediate benefits. This is due to unrealistic expectations about the time required to reap the benefits of a team.
At a minimum, training should involve a basic overview of the phases of team development. The team needs to understand the phases it will encounter and what behaviours are expected of members.
Professor Bruce Tuckman's 1965 model for team development remains the most popular. It consists of five phases: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. According to the model, your team must go through each stage, in order, to properly develop and be successful.
In the forming stage, members must spend time getting acquainted with each other to better understand and relate to each other. In a short-term team this phase could include a brief introduction and identifying the roles of each other. In a longer-term team, it will include becoming more familiar with each other personally, such as getting to know about members' lives and interests. Taking time to get acquainted will have long-term benefits.
The storming phase includes dealing with conflict and resolving power and control issues. When asked why teams that seem to be doing everything right fail, Laiken cites unmanaged conflict. She argues that most teams avoid conflict and create barriers to avoid confronting problems. Encourage your team to deal with conflict as a problem-solving exercise. According to Laiken, the ensuing dialogue often yields the most successful teams.
In the norming phase the team establishes ground rules based on its experience in the storming phase, which includes a formal or an informal contract on how the team will interact. This is the honeymoon stage. Your organization's role is to recognize the team's progress and prompt the creation of a formal team contract.
In the performing stage, the team becomes highly performing. This is a sign of success. It is able to work toward its shared goals in an efficient manner, including effective problem solving and decision making. In the fifth and final stage, the team's work is complete. Because of the anticipation of the end, members often regress to earlier stages of development. They may need assistance with farewells. Recognize the team's accomplishments at this stage.
To have successful teams and to reap the higher productivity and profitability associated with them, you must first ensure a team is needed and then coach members on team behaviour and development. If you follow through, your organization will enjoy the benefits.
Sharda Prashad, CA, MEd, is a freelance writer. She is completing her MBA at the Joint Kellogg-Schulich EMBA program. Contact her at sprashad@sympatico.ca
Technical Editor: Carolyn Cohen, CA, MSW; c.cohen@sympatico.ca | 
