Most business leaders understand that there are significant performance gains to be achieved through teamwork, and yet few organizations have succeeded in getting the results they hoped for.

Is the one of the reasons for the failure to achieve the potential that teams offer in the training that teams get?

Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith state in their best-selling book The Wisdom of Teams:

"Team performance is a fact, not a fad. Unfortunately, so is team frustration and failure. Team training efforts continue to miss the target by focusing on togetherness, open communication and interpersonal dynamics rather than simply getting the basics right."

So if togetherness, open communication and interpersonal dynamics (which form the basis of much of the team development training offered) are not the basics, what are?

Being a Team Member is a Part-Time Role

The first thing to understand is that most teams are not full time teams. In fact, it is very much a part time role. Team members are selected for their knowledge and expertise, and their primary role is to fulfill their individual responsibilities. And yet one could get the impression from much of the team training that is delivered, that you have to be a team member all the time!

Some team members resist participating in teams because they don't see the team member role as distinct from their functional role... often leading to conflict as they argue from their own position rather than looking at issues from the perspective of the team as a whole.

Behavioral Adaptability is an Essential Skill

Effective teamwork cannot be achieved unless team members understand the need to switch from one role to the other. To be effective at switching roles, the team member first needs to have the flexibility of mind, to mentally switch roles. Secondly, they must have the behavioral adaptability to effectively perform both roles.

Behavioral adaptability requires a high degree of emotional intelligence, which we know can be learned. But it will take time. The emotional competencies of Self-Awareness and Self-Management are essential as we increase the awareness of the need to excel in two roles requiring different behavior and then go through the process of learning to adapt to new habits.

The Motivation to be a Team

The second basic fundamental is that teams must have a significant reason for being a team. If it is not really important to the team members, why would they go through the discomfort and effort to adapt their behavior?

So one of the first things an effective team-training program will do is help the team establish what their Team Performance Challenge is. Once they have agreed on an objective that is meaningful and important to all members... working as a team, when they need to will make a lot of sense.

Team Development is a Process

Turning a potential team into a high performing team takes time... it cannot be achieved as a result of a single event. For that reason SRG provides a three stage Team Development Process designed to be implemented over a 12 to 15 month timeframe. This includes reinforcement sessions and application back in the workplace. For more information, follow the links below.

Team Development Process Outline

Team Development Process Flowchart