TEAM BUILDING v BUILDING TEAMS

I  always like to start discussions around team building with our clients by drawing their attention to and discussing Patrick Lencioni’s five dysfunctions of a team, namely:

Absence of Trust

Fear of Conflict

Lack of Commitment

Avoidance of Accountability

Inattention to Results

I do this because I think this model provides an excellent basis for building effective teams simply by removing the negative descriptors before the key words. So, for me an effective team achieves the following:

Trust through knowledge and acceptance

Constructive conflict by open communication

Commitment to agreed objectives and goals

Accountability and ownership of outcomes, individually and collectively

Results orientation through focus on desired outcomes

In terms of achieving a truly functional team, as defined above, in which team members are interdependent and supportive of one another; I believe there is little which can be achieved by traditional action learning ‘teambuilding’ events and activities. This is not to say the same have no value, more they tend not to build a team in any sustainable or relatively significant way.

Traditional team building activities ordinarily involve achieving defined tasks, which are not work related, away from the team’s operational environment. This dislocates and disassociates the team from their ordinary working experience and employs them in achieving an outcome which is irrelevant to the team in their operational role. Also, Lencioni’s model is hierarchical insofar as the absence of trust leads to fear of conflict which prevents commitment, and so on. By dislocating, disassociation and irrelevance the foundations of the functional team, that is, trust and constructive conflict are no longer required to achieve commitment to the task in hand. This in turn makes it relatively easy for team members to commit to the (irrelevant) task which can be achieved, more or less, without significant penalty in relation to ownership and accountability. Clearly, skilled delivery and facilitation can enable drawing of parallels and lessons relative to the working environment but the implementation of the same is another matter altogether.

My advice to clients seeking to build an effective team is to do so in their work place and utilising the realities of their environment and day to day work. Doing so smartly can also bring added value in achieving organic development and growth. In advising this I draw attention to the need for leadership and acknowledge the challenges involved in adopting such an approach. There are tools and processes which help in building effective teams in this way but the first requirement is for leadership and in so saying, the following clip by Patrick Lencioni about leadership helps explain why http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sqvWEI1CVg&feature=watch-vrec

HOPE IS NOT A STRATEGY- HOW STRATEGY CAN MAKE YOUR FUTURE

In today’s business world if you are a business leader you have two choices. You can shape your destiny or let fate take you to the destination it chooses. All too often we come across businesses that have taken the second option and found they are in a place that they did not want to be.  It’s a tough world out there with a rapidly changing environment with lots of competitors chipping away at your business. You need to ensure your business survives and flourishes through proper planning and preparation. Having some sort of Strategy that includes a vision of where you want to get to. An understanding of what might stop you. An idea of the team you would like to assist you on your way and a means of allocating your scarce resources to the most important aspects of your plan.

There is a time and place for each of these disciplines   but you need to understand the where and when and how and bring all of these disparate activities together into one coherent strategy.

So how do I put together my strategy and where do I start?

Like all good stories you need to start at the beginning by understanding your personal requirements and how these can be met by your business. There is little separation in today's fast moving world between home and office.  This entails asking yourself lots of questions. What is it you want to achieve? (Vision) How will you do this? (Plan) Whose help and guidance do you need? (Talent Management) What resources will you need?  How much will it cost? What’s my time frame to achieve this? (Resource Priorities and Risk Management)

Hone your answers at each stage of the process by continually asking one of the most important but rarely used questions – WHY? Sometimes its best asked five times to get to the real issue or desire!

That’s a lot to take in if you’re also spending most of your time on day-to-day operational business matters. Sometimes it pays to bring someone in from outside your business to look at your strategy with fresh eyes and there are plenty of consultants who can do this. Some may also assist in the implementation of your strategy as you focus on the day to day activities. After all we all work far too much "in rather than on" our business.

But in the words of Rick Page “Hope is not a strategy” Start shaping your future to ensure that you get your business to the place it needs to be to give you the life you want!

CREATING VALUE FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS AND YOUR PEOPLE

Companies often mistake profit for value and assume that the proof of profit within our capitalist society automatically indicates that value has been achieved. However the capitalist system is under siege. Companies are widely perceived to be prospering at the expense of their communities. A big part of the current problem is the stakeholders' and boards adopt a limited approach to value creation and the perception of value by potential customers. Focused on short-term financials, companies overlook the broader influences that will sustain their long-term success. The microscope that has been brought to bear by the economic environment brings with it a far more discretionary customer who is focused on what they get in total for their buck. Clever companies could bring business and society back together if they redefined their purpose as creating "shared value"—generating economic value in a way that also produces value for society by addressing some of its challenges; the old win win rather than zero sum argument.

What is value? Value is an individual perception. It comes from an individual's expectations which are founded in their own experience and beliefs. Value put simply is the positive difference between someone’s' expectation and reality. Just as a lack of value is the negative difference between expectation and reality.  So value comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes and it is here that companies need to get cleverer in their delivery of something. Value will last as long as the item is around it is not just about shiny and new products.

Value needs to be measured through the life of a product. It needs to be measured in all sorts of ways to match the expectations of the audience that is trying to assess it.  Long Term Value is no longer about initial cost but it is also about through life costs and disposal costs, it is also about the environmental impact, local economy impact, societal impact etc etc.

Clever companies are starting to focus their marketing on the other aspects of value that society considers important and those that don't reflect the new principles of non-monetary value will soon find their market dwindling as they look only towards their own profit. Clever companies provide and measure the same value to their employees, after all how good is it to work for a company your proud of!