The 5 Top Reasons Business Teams Fail And What …

1 2004 Sid Smith The 5 Reasons Business Teams fail Page 1 The 5 Top Reasons Business Teams fail And What You Can Do About It You ve taken the high road to Business success, following the guidance of management gurus and industry experts. You ve adopted the philosophy of the ancient sages. Now, you have an organization comprised of Teams . Congratulations. N o w w h a t ? Are your Teams performing as well as you had hoped? It s not surprising that when it comes to crunch time, management turns to their top performers to bail them out of project delays, miscommunication, and conflict that seems to be inherent in Teams . Teams are supposed to be a better way to go. They re hyped as the solution to keeping up with the ever increasing pace of doing Business , shortened production cycles, and a finicky customer base who wants more for less money.

2 Are you wondering if Teams are really all they re made to be by consultants and management experts? Rest assured that in most situations Teams are indeed the best way to attain high levels of performance, innovation, and even employee satisfaction. Creating a High-Impact team a team that makes a solid, positive impact on the bottom line of your organization takes a lot of hard work and dedication. If it were that easy to do, everyone would have high-performing, high-impact Teams . But they don t, and there is a chance you don t either. A H i g h-I m p a c t T e a m i s a n e n e r g e t i c g r o u p o f p e o p l e t h a t p r o d u c e s h i g h q u a l i t y , p l a n n e d r e s u l t s i n a d e f i n e d p e r i o d o f t i m e d e s p i t e d i f f i c u l t i e s.

3 Cynder Niemela, from Leading High Impact Teams . If you re finding that despite well-defined team processes, your projects are still late, people aren t holding each other accountable, trust is an ongoing issue, and you re spending more time resolving conflicts than you d like, you re not alone. Creating a high-impact team isn t just about having a corporate team concept or well-defined roles and responsibilities. Business Teams fail to produce the desired results for many Reasons . If you d like to learn about five of the top Reasons Teams fail , and what you can do about it, then read on. Here they are in a nutshell: 1. The team lacks a clear and compelling vision and purpose. 2. team members do not hold each other accountable for their work.

4 3. The team does not have shared leadership. 4. team processes are ineffective or not well established. 5. The team has too much, or too little autonomy. 2004 Sid Smith The 5 Reasons Business Teams fail Page 2 The Top 5 Reasons Business Teams fail And What You Can Do About It 1. The team Lacks a Clear and Compelling Vision and Purpose A major reason any team fails, whether it is a management or project team , is the lack of a clear, overriding, and compelling vision or purpose. Like a team racing a sail boat, Business Teams have to know not only their destination, they have to have a compelling reason for getting there as quickly and efficiently as possible. Otherwise, they ll do whatever it takes to get by, and they ll make sure nobody on the team does any more than necessary.

5 A team works best when everyone holds the same understanding of the purpose. A purpose answers the question, Why does our team exist? It provides meaning and direction to the daily team activities. For example, an Information Technology (IT) department was concerned with the low level of enthusiasm their staff had for their projects. Staff tended to keep to themselves. team members said the meetings were mostly irrelevant to their work, and often bogged down with needless arguments or irrelevant discussions. They had neither an IT vision, nor any team vision or purpose statements. What you can do about it A vision or purpose is a statement of what you want your world to look like in the future. If you want people on your team to take concerted, creative, and effective action on a consistent basis, you have to give them a good reason to do so.

6 One way to do this is to discover what inspires the individuals on the team , and include these in the team vision. Here are five keys to creating a strong vision and purpose for your team : 1. Make the vision or purpose specific to the team . Even if you have subgroups within a team , they should spend some time talking about their purpose, making it relevant to each individual and appropriate to the organization s mission. CLUES/SYMPTOMS Apathy Increased conflict on how to achieve goals People working in isolation Teams go in different directions Performance well below potential Unfocused meetings Slow decision process and momentum Arguments over insignificant items T h e r e a l v a lu e of c r e a t i n g a t e a m v i s i o n li e s n o t i n t h e pr o d u c t i t s e l f , bu t i n t h e c o n v e r s a t i o n s a n d r e s u l t s i t g e n e r a t e s.

7 2004 Sid Smith The 5 Reasons Business Teams fail Page 3 2. Make your purpose clear and easily understood by those within, and outside, your team 3. Describe each team s unique competencies within the organization, indicating the special talents they bring to the company that no other team brings. 4. Provide an inspiring, meaningful reason for working together for team members. Find out what motivates each person on the team . 5. Make your team vision forward looking. Look out into the future and see what is possible for the team . 2. team members do not hold each other accountable for their work Accountability is a difficult issue to address because you can t normally hit it head-on. For example, if you penalize people for delays or mistakes, you ll directly impact their desire to hold each other accountable.

8 If I don t hold you accountable, you won t hold me accountable is a common unspoken rule. When team members, and the team leader, are not accountable to their team , it means project delays, internal or external conflict, bad feelings, and an eroding of any team spirit you might have gained from a strong vision or purpose statement. The bottom line is that they end up avoiding and distrusting each other, and avoiding the problems until they become too big to ignore. Lack of accountability shows up in two forms: 1. Individuals are not accountable for their own actions. 2. Individuals do not hold each other accountable for team -related work For example, a manager at a distribution company complained that members of her team were not holding each other accountable for completing their tasks on schedule.

9 At status meetings, people gave their report, then tuned out. There was no accountability for delays. team members worked alone, and any conversation between them was cordial, polite, and superficial. Conflict was avoided, but their meetings tended to veer into long discussions about inconsequential items. RESULTS OF A CLEAR VISION Greater excitement More personal involvement of team Focuses team energy on future state Creates opportunities for collaboration Aligns team tasks to purpose/vision Provides direction Identifies required competencies Matches team outcomes to customer needs Provides basis for conflict resolution CLUES/SYMPTOMS Bad feelings expressed or not Backstabbing Scapegoating Not taking responsibility for actions Big problems suddenly crop up Meetings veer off into irrelevant topics Off the record conversations People are too quiet in meetings 2004 Sid Smith The 5 Reasons Business Teams fail Page 4 What you can do about it.

10 Lack of accountability in an organization can be a symptom of distrust. People become so busy that all they have time for are their own issues and responsibilities. Consequently, they don t know what others are doing, including other managers, other departments or other people on their project team . If you notice isolation of team members or lack of open communication, it may be because they fear rejection, humiliation, conflict, or reprisal if they deliver bad news. It s a good idea to talk with your team and not assume there is a problem . You never know what levels of distrust people bring with them to a job from previous experiences. Four keys to creating accountability are: 1. Good accountability must be demonstrated by management.