the
innovative LEDGER
An e-Newsletter from The Innovative Edge™ Inc.
Vol.
7, No. 9 - September 2007
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The Ins and Outs of Effective Teams
By Jeff Govendo
There
is a new book out called X-Teams: How to Build Teams that Lead,
Innovate and Succeed. In it, authors Deborah Ancona and Henrik
Bresman make the valid (and none-too-earth-shattering) observation
that changes in the business landscape over the past couple of decades,
to one that is far more global, networked and distributed (a la Friedman's
The World is Flat) makes clear the need for company teams that are
much more externally focused than traditional, inwardly focused teams.
They
trace the advent and progression of work teams from the 1920's to
the present, noting that the emphasis has been on, and (in their complaint)
often remains the inner workings, such as interpersonal dynamics among
members: building trust, developing team spirit, collegiality and
the like. While they concede such factors are still worth looking
at and working on, they believe teams need to be spending much more
time and energy exploring the great big world outside.
In
other words, stop contemplating your collective team navel and --
as the popular cruise line ad exhorts -- "Get Out There!"
I
couldn't agree more that globalization is issuing a compelling call
for businesses to look far beyond their own fences for valuable information,
ideas and, of course, partnering opportunities. There's just too
much new knowledge creation going on worldwide, at too fast a pace,
for any one entity to be able to absorb and integrate it all.
And, while the authors cite large companies such as Microsoft, Toyota
and Southwest in case studies, this may be especially true for small
to medium-size organizations that simply don't have the deep pocket
resources to keep up with all this.
My
question is this: why is it either an inward OR outward focus? Why
can't it be both? While it may be true that teams need to point their
antennae more externally to get a better read on what the rest of
the world is doing, I would submit that doing so creates even more
of an imperative to make sure the inner team dynamics are fully up
to their potential.
Why?
Because ultimately the purpose of peering outside is to get new ideas.
New ideas that haven't been thought of on the team, within the
company or throughout the industry. Ideas that may at first seem strange
and, well...foreign.
What
will the team do with these?
Historically,
teams that aren't functioning optimally do not do well with new ideas,
even those emanating from within the team itself, let alone from outside.
They have trouble being open-minded to new thinking, to listening
for the possibilities that may be encoded in unfamiliar-sounding concepts.
They are quicker to say no to proposals brought up by individual members
or subgroups, making it that much more unappealing for those folks
to continue scanning the outside world for new ideas.
Teams
that are deficient in areas such as listening, building on ideas,
problem-solving and other interpersonal skills may have individuals
who know a lot about the global business landscape. They may be well-versed
in the latest best practices and processes from around the world.
But in the context of a dysfunctional team, what these folks have
learned is less apt to be translated into new products, services or
technologies that can create value for the customer and a competitive
edge for the company.
Even
if they've learned it inside out.
