The Importance Of Team Building In The

Corporate World Essay, Research Paper

?One plus one equals 11, not two; this is not weird mathematics, but

corporate quantification.?

These days everyone is talking about team building, and the value of

effective team work is demonstrated by many organisations from large

industrial manufacturers to small dedicated service providers.

However, most people have experienced huge upheavals in many dimensions

of their working lives. Some teams call for something deeper and more

difficult than team building. We name this deeper process Team Healing.

A team is more cohesive than a work group. It operates in an integrated

way and enjoys closer-knit relationships. To some extent a team shares

a number of features in common with a family and can be viewed as a

family writ large. As in a family, there is a special sense of belonging,

real interdependence and a shared history. Team members work closely

together and spend a great deal of time together. They come to know each

other well and depend on each other to fulfill social, emotional, and

task-related needs. Caring, trust and respect contribute to team harmony

just as they contribute to family harmony. And, as in a family, its

members depend on each other to fulfill their needs.

Being human, our needs accompany us to work. They are part of us; we

cannot leave them off at the entrance, or at the exit, for that matter.

What happens to us during the course of the days, months and years we

spend in working careers has a definite impact on our psyches. How well

we function with others, and how well we are treated by others, is very

important to our success and personal satisfaction.

TEAM PSYCHE IS A REFLECTION OF INDIVIDUAL PSYCHE

While individuals have needs, so do teams and organizations. The needs

listed below reflect how those needs are related:

The need for individuals to experience harmony, and the need for

teams to operate harmoniously.

The need to experience caring, and the need for teams to demonstrate

caring for all their members.

The need to be informed, and the need to encourage communications.

The need for shared values, and the need to pursue corporate values.

The need to feel included and accepted, and the need to form cohesive

teams.

The need to feel influential and the opportunity leaders can afford

members to participate in important aspects of the management process.

The need to be associated with something that transcends the self,

and the opportunity to belong to an organization whose products and

services are valued by society.

The need for a sense of direction and purpose, and the mission and

vision pursued by the team.

The need to socialize, have fun and enjoy the company of others, and

the opportunities that teamwork can provide for creativity and

camaraderie.

Therefore, teams should be build on ?F.A.M.I.L.Y. V.A.L.U.E.S.?

In other words, TEAMS SHOULD BE:

F – OCUSED : On their goals, on the contributions they make, their

customers and the standards that govern quality and

responsiveness.

A – DAPTIVE : Flexible and able to take action to anticipate or meet

changing environmental demands. And they should have facility in

adjusting priorities.

M – ISSION-ORIENTED : Clear about their missions and purposes.

I – NVOLVED : Involved in decisions that affect them, in planning,

contributing ideas, suggesting goals, initiatives and

tactics.

L – ED : Provided essential direction, vision, example, the ethical basis for action, expectations for performance, priorities. Leaders

should protect and build their teams, remove obstacles, and provide resources.

Y – OUTHFUL : Creative, spirited, and excited about what they do.

V – IBRANT: Active in instituting initiatives that align with and help

to further

A – SSESSED : Active in periodically examining their operations and the

quality

L – INKED : In alignment, vertically and horizontally. Their work operations should be well-integrated with other teams and

departments as well as with external stakeholders. Cooperation should be the norm.

U – NIFIED : Cohesive in spirit and singular in direction.

E – MPOWERED : Given authority to act in furtherance of their

responsibilities. Given wide latitude to take actions to satisfy internal stake holders and external ?customers.?

S – ATISFIED : With their jobs, their leaders, their support, their rewards, and their contributions. Leaders who attend to these factors are likely to achieve high perrformance and excelent morale.

Over the last few years, we have been involved in a number of situations

where a team was in severe difficulties. Examples include:

people forced to work together following mergers;

groups with a mutual mistrust and competing agendas;

teams in which particular individuals have behaved badly, and yet

need to be reintegrated into the team

executive teams that have been through power struggles and political

intrigue.

There are no magic solutions to these problems, and the journey from

team sickness to health may be a difficult one. However, the most

difficult stage is sometimes simply to admit that a team is not working. It is

one of those issues that is more comfortably left in the shadows of

organisational life than directly addressed.

But that is only delaying the inevitable. The risk is that the

situation will deteriorate until either a key player leaves, or the

organisation is forced into more drastic measures such as an unwanted

reorganisation. Both of these are costly outcomes that will hit productivity even

more.

There is no blueprint for success, but there are some definite stages

that a team will need to work through. Often our starting point is a

group of hurt people, suffering bruised feelings and resentment. There is

a real need for people to listen with their whole heart, which is much

more difficult than it may sound, as it leaves you vulnerable. The crux

lies in enabling the team to understand what has really been going on

from everyone?s perspective, and how different people feel differently

about it.

When people are truly heard and understood by their antagonists,

something profound happens to both sides, and it is this which allows real

change, starting with a change of heart. Because this level of listening,

with the routine defense/attack responses outlawed, causes people to

draw on a deeper level of their humanity, to explore more subtle nuances

of their feelings, which in turn often evinces a surprising compassion.

The pull towards the old habitual way of working can be very strong,

and we see our role as helping people to turn their good intentions into

reality. Once the corner is turned and things start to improve, there

is more energy for the future, but there is still a risk that a careless

word or action can set up a downward spiral, so reviewing and

stabilising the new approach is crucial.