Best Practices_ Managing People_ Secrets to Leading for New Managers - Barry Silverstein [13]
Essential Skill II Managing Teams
“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.”
—Andrew Carnegie,
philanthropist and founder of Carnegie Steel Company
(1835–1919)
Why work in teams? To put it simply, you’ll accomplish more—and do it more efficiently. The modern workplace is leaner, and managers are expected to do more with less. The properly managed team can produce more work of better quality, faster, than individuals working alone.
A team doesn’t exist to give its members the pleasure of teamwork. Whether the team is a work group team, a sales team, or a service team, it exists to accomplish something specific, and its members share a common sense of purpose. The old saying “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” is never truer than for a team.
Good teams are grounded in collaboration and cooperation. The culture of the workplace must embrace the concept of working together; you must embrace being a team leader.
Team leadership involves doing four things well: building your team, defining the roles of your team members, motivating your team, and using your team effectively.
The BIG Picture
TEAMS ACCOMPLISH AMAZING THINGS
In his book Creativity, author Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi points out that in Florence, between 1400 and 1425, five different artists created five of the most celebrated works in all of art history.
Filippo Brunelleschi designed the cathedral dome.
Lorenzo Ghiberti sculpted the Gates of Paradise.
Donatello created sculptures in the chapel of Orsanmichele.
Masaccio painted frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel.
Gentile da Fabriano rendered the “Adoration of the Magi” in the Church of the Trinity.
This was more than just coincidence, he believes. The collaboration of the artists with their patrons, and the feedback these patrons gave during the creation of each work, pushed the artists to heights that they might never have achieved on their own. In other words, outstanding performance is never a solo accomplishment.
SOURCE: Executive Intelligence by Justin Menkes (Collins, 2005).
BUILDING TEAMS
Managers who don’t inherit teams must start with existing employees. Rarely do you have the opportunity to build a new team from the ground up. Even so, you can make an impact by conveying a sense of purpose and direction.
Define the Team’s Role
It falls to you as the manager and team leader to spell out what the team is expected to accomplish.
Make the goal specific and measurable; it can be as ambitious as you need it to be, but it should still be realistic. Set a deadline.
At the same time, explain how the team’s work supports the goals of your organization as a whole. Often, when people work closely on a team, their perspective becomes narrower and more focused. Although this changed perspective helps them do their work, knowing the bigger picture is important in making decisions and maintaining enthusiasm for the tasks at hand. In addition, make a point of consistently reminding your group of the value of their efforts.
Know Your Team Members
Chances are that not all team members are equally committed to the team—or equally competent.
POWER POINTS
MANAGING TEAMS
Working in teams is a way for managers to accomplish more with less. These are the basic principles for managing teams:
A team exists to accomplish something.
Teams are built on cooperation and collaboration.
Team leaders know how to build and motivate teams and use them effectively.
CASE FILE
A WHOLE CULTURE OF TEAMS
Whole Foods has become one of the most successful natural foods grocery retailers. One major reason, according to cofounder and CEO John Mackey, is its team culture.
Each store operates on its own with an average of ten teams managing the store’s departments. The teams have leaders and performance targets.
Whole Foods promotes the concept of internal competition. Each store’s teams, the stores themselves, and