Developing Your Team - Depends What Kind of Team You've Got

Most organisations today espouse the concept of teams and team working. Many would call themselves ‘team-based’ organisations. It may be, however, that the word ‘team’ is one of the most over-used and ill-defined in corporate language today. Many of the people I encounter tell me that whilst they are officially a member of a team, the group does not behave like a team and they do not experience any sense of teamwork or cohesion in the day-to-day. I believe that this is because many teams have not worked out what kind of team they are and how they need to work together. This in turn means that their development efforts can be unfocused and inappropriate for the type of team.
What is a team?
There are many different definitions of teams to be found in literature and other sources, but all of them refer to the concept of a group of people working together for a shared, or common, purpose. It would seem that the key, therefore, is ‘shared purpose’ – all members of the team being committed to the same goal. A group of people who work together but have no shared purpose in mind is not a team in the true sense of the word. For example, a group of people who report to the same leader but whose work is not in any way related to or dependent on the work of the others does not constitute a team. That is not to say, however, that a group of people whose work is independent of the work of the others cannot share a common purpose.
Interdependent or independent?
In their book entitled ‘Do You Really Need a Team?’ Michael E. Kossler & Kim Kanaga suggest that true teams require an element of interdependence and that where interdependence does not exist they are workgroups rather than teams. Other sources argue that there are different types of teams: those where the members are independent and those where they are interdependent.
Wikipedia uses examples in sport to differentiate the two. A tennis team would be an example of an independent team – each team member plays matches and wins or loses, and the result of each individual match has no direct impact on the performance of the next player. The team has nonetheless a shared purpose of winning the tournament.
In business, sales teams often operate in this way. Each sales manager is responsible for sales in his/her own region and their day-to-day performance does not directly affect that of the other sales managers. The team has, however, a shared purpose, for example achieving an overall sales target of $5million, or increasing market share of product X by 5%. Team members can help one another by sharing information or best practices, but if they do not do so the purpose may still be achieved.
Interdependent teams are ones where the members are dependent on one another for some skills, knowledge, information or other needs. To revert to examples from sport, think of a rugby team where different team members play particular roles and specialise in certain tasks, and it is impossible for any one player to win a match without the others.
Many business teams would operate in a similar way, relying on individual team members to take on certain roles and complete particular tasks in order for the team to achieve its overall objectives. Think of a project team, where members have been appointed for their strengths in particular areas. New team members may join the team for specific phases of the project. If any one team member omits to perform his/her role the project may be at risk of failure.
Whether you support Kossler and Kanaga’s definition of workgroups versus teams, or whether you believe there are just different types of teams, the most important thing is that you understand which type of team you have and hence how best to develop them.
What kind of team do I have?
The first thing to establish is whether you have a team at all, and then to work out how that team needs to operate. Consider the following questions:
Does the group you are thinking about have a clearly defined common purpose? In one or two sentences, what is it?
Is the team required to work together to achieve the purpose – do they rely on one another for specific skills or information?
Can the purpose be achieved without the members working together – in other words, will you get results through the consolidated efforts of the individuals versus a team effort?
Developing Your Team
Teams that are interdependent will benefit from team development initiatives that develop the relationships and build trust between the members. A coaching style of development will probably have the best effect with this type of team, giving team members the opportunity to work out and overcome challenges together using the strengths and skills within the team. The key question in this type of approach is ‘how can we operate better as a team?’
Independent teams are highly likely to see this kind of approach as pointless. The key question for this type of team is ‘how can each of us perform better in our jobs?’ Job-related training is likely to be a much better approach so that all members can develop the same skills needed to contribute to achievement of the team’s goal. Of course, nurturing a culture where independent team members are willing to share tips and knowledge with one another is highly desirable and some team building to develop relationships can be very useful.