THE WISDOM OF TEAMS

The Wisdom of Teams

The Wisdom of Teams

Introduction

Team building interventions are expensive. There are always both direct and hidden costs associated with them. Direct costs might include the hiring of the venue if the intervention is to take place off-site, consultants' fees, processing costs for various psychometric tests and hidden costs can be described as the cost of that work which the participants might have done had they not been elsewhere, team building, instead.

The work and research we have been involved and associated with (Atkinson,1986), has focused on understanding the key work elements that have proved to be a reliable and valid focus in explaining why it is that some work teams work effectively and achieve their objectives while others fail. The research has supported an understanding of team performance in terms of nine team performance factors, summarized as the Types of Work Wheel, shown below in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Margerison-McCann Types of Work Wheel

Effective teams continually demonstrate a focus on all nine performance factors.

The eight factors arranged around the spokes of the Wheel are known as the teamwork functions and show relative statistical independence. The ninth activity, Linking, is placed in the center of the Wheel as it is a characteristic shared with the eight work functions. For example, Inspecting work must be done in a 'linking' way if it is to be shared with all the other functions.

The importance of each work function to teamwork is described in more detail below:

Advising

Advising> work is concerned with giving and gathering information. It involves finding out what others are doing in your area of work and ensuring that you are following best practices. Information may need to be gathered from articles, reports, or books, or by meeting and talking with people.(Bernstein, 1961) It means ensuring that you have all the information available for the team to make the best decisions and deliver results.

Innovating

Innovating is a key aspect of teamwork and involves challenging the way things are currently being done. Technology is changing so quickly that the way you are currently performing tasks may no longer be the best way. If you are not up-to-date in your practices, your cost structure may be too high or you may no longer be delivering competitive service. Innovating is essential for all work teams. (Atkinson,1986) There are always better ways of doing things if you only take time to discover them.

Promoting

To obtain the resources - people, money, and equipment - to carry out your work, you have to 'sell' what you are doing to other people. Resources to implement new ideas will only be given if your team can persuade and influence people higher in the organization. Promoting to customers or clients both inside or outside the organization is also important if you are to continually deliver what people want.(Hicks,2004)

Developing

Many ideas don't see the light of day because they are impractical. The Developing activity ensures that your ideas are molded and shaped to meet the needs of your customers, clients, or ...