Teams work. That fact, and the flexibility required for organizations to adapt to the constant changes of the global market place, are reasons why the new leader must develop skills in creating and managing teams. The rigid old organizational structures are being replaced with more fluid designs that can better serve customer needs. Teams will do more of the work that used to be done through the hierarchy. However, teams are only as good as the leadership. The good news is that teams can reduce costs and provide better solutions. The bad news is that teams can be a real challenge for leadership. Teams can be useful in these ways:
- To save time and costs by cutting through layers of hierarchy
- To integrate the work of people with different competencies and points of view
- To arrive at more innovative solutions through the synergy of diversity
- To generate high levels of involvement by giving a group of people with a clear focus, authority, responsibility and accountability
- To free leadership to focus on the customer
What is a team? In general, a team is a group of individuals with a common purpose. The common purpose of a professional football team is to win games. However, teams in the workplace are groups of people who are collectively responsible for achieving a specific outcome. A team may suggest improvements in the way a product is created or a service delivered. If properly selected, from different parts of the organization, a team can bring a unique perspective to problems that would not be possible from inside the hierarchy.
Because of increasing pressures for high levels of performance, organizations use teams to bring multiple perspectives to a problem, or program, a set of customers or an important work process. With creative leadership there may be an unlimited number of purposes for the use of teams. Susan Mohrman and Allan Mohrman in Designing and Leading Team-Based Organizations suggest these five types of teams:
1. Work teams – which perform the core work of the organization. They employ resources (e.g. labor and raw materials) to produce the products or services of the organizations
2. Integrated teams – which coordinate and integrate the work of different parts of the organization to add value to products or services
3. Management team – which makes authoritative decisions about strategy, priorities, services, allocations and organization for a business unit
4. Involvement teams – which perform tasks that were once the domain of management such as Six Sigma performance teams.
5. Improvement teams – which plan and introduce changes that improve the quality of products or services.
When properly managed teams can be a major asset. When poorly managed, as is often the case, they can be counterproductive. The new leader will face the challenge.
