Vast amounts of organizational time, effort and money are wasted each year by problems with teams that leaders either fail to recognize or fail to correct. Problem teams don’t cause all business failures, but they are a major factor in unsuccessful projects and missed goals.
Teamwork demands shared responsibility, but it also demands individual contributions. It fails if team members shelter behind the consensus. ~ Robert Heller, Founding Editor, Management Today
In a study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers of 200 global companies from various sectors―involving over 10,000 projects―less than 3% successfully completed their plans. Other similar research reveals a 60-70% project failure rate. In the U.S. alone, IT project failures cause estimated losses of up to $150 billion… per year.
A recent survey found that 91 percent of high-level managers believe teams are the key to success. But the evidence doesn’t always support this assertion. Many teamwork-related problems remain hidden from view.
In the work I do, I often hear assumptions about team effectiveness. Every team thinks it does its best work when the stakes are highest. On the contrary, pressures to perform drive people toward safe solutions that are justifiable, rather than innovative.
To raise my own awareness and those of my clients, I’ve been doing some reading about teams. Corporations increasingly organize people into teams, a practice that gained popularity in the ’90s. By 2000, roughly half of all U.S. organizations used teams; today, virtually all do.
Some teams work together from remote locations, relying on technical communication aids, such as web conferencing and email. Others demand a tremendous amount of face-to-face interaction, including team-building retreats, shared online calendars, meetings and physical workspaces that afford little privacy.
“Innovation—the heart of the knowledge economy—is fundamentally social,” writes prominent journalist Malcolm Gladwell.
Management expert Peter Drucker, who coined the term “knowledge worker,” points out that while people have always worked in tandem, “teams become the work unit rather than the individual himself” in knowledge work.
Benefits of Teams: Working in teams has definite advantages:
- Improved information-sharing
- Better decisions, products and services
- Higher employee motivation and engagement
Barriers to Teams: There are, however, several barriers to achieving great work from teams:
- Some individuals are faster (or better) on key tasks.
- Developing and maintaining teams can prove costly.
- Some individuals do less work, relying on others to complete assigned tasks.
Most corporate leaders nonetheless believe the benefits of teamwork far outweigh the costs. But do they? How much individual creative work isn’t being done because of the demands of group interaction, striving for fair consensus, and time-consuming meetings?
Think about it. I’d love to hear your opinion on this. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. As always, I can be reached here or on LinkedIn.
This Post Has 2 Comments
Time consuming meetings? Usually the result of an effective leadership. Either in defining the goal or managing the meeting.
Ineffective leadership
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