Teamwork

If you had a salaried position years ago and you're running your own company today, you know that running the company like your own boss did many years ago no longer works. Then "team" meant the boss told you and the other department members what to do and everyone did as they were told. Questions were frowned upon. Failure was not tolerated and it was always someone's fault.

Where I worked in a large multi-national we had a tongue-in-cheek description of the stages of teamwork: "euphoria - constructive debate - fatigue - disillusionment - failure - search for the guilty - punishment of the innocent". This description sometimes wasn't that far off but we were at least allowed to be cynical - after all, someone was in charge, they were responsible and they would get the promotion if things worked out.

Today, such thinking is frowned upon. The team's success is everyone's responsibility. Cynicism is destructive and not allowed. The team operates by consensus and, while there may be a "coach", the boss must definitely not tell anyone what to do since that would de-motivate the team members.

Why have companies adopted this model? Why does it work better than the old model?

Managers have realized that, although they have many tools and a lot of knowledge and experience at their disposal, they can't know what it's like to actually do the work. As work becomes more complex, as it changes more often and as more efficient ways of working are required, how the work is done becomes very important. The person who is most familiar with this is the worker. It is essential to tap into his experience and at the same time motivate him to carry out the necessary changes. To accomplish this, he is brought into the team.

Managers who think to manage means to know what to do and to order that it be done have difficulty with this. Unless the team operates on the basis that everyone has something important to contribute and values such contributions from everyone, the process will not result in the execution of the changes at all levels and the company will suffer.

If the team process works; if team members agree on what needs to be done, arrive at a consensus and decide communally to each go and do their part, each team member is very likely to do what is needed and changes and improvements are made. For many small businesses, the owner has to act as the manager of a team which includes the whole company.

FIRST PUBLISHED AT SUITE101.COM