Team Building - Developing Performing Teams
 

Continued from page 3:

Team Size and Skills

Generally the number of people in a team ranges from 2 to 25. The majority of teams studied by Katzenbach and Smith[11] had less than ten members. According to them though a team of 50 or more members is theoretically possible, but such a team will invariably break off into sub teams and will rarely function as a single and cohesive unit. This is because interactions can be rarely constructive in such teams. A team with around 10 members can be far more effective than a team that has more than 50 people.

For teams to be successful, a right mix of skills is as important as right size. Teams need to have an appropriate complement of skills to accomplish the team’s task. Often these skills are lacking in many potential teams. The skills necessary for teams can be broadly classified into technical or functional expertise, problem solving and decision-making skills, and interpersonal skills.

Composition of teams

Teams are often formed based on personal compatibility or formal position. Very rarely are they formed based on the functional expertise of their members. It is important for teams to have problem-solving skills to identify problems and opportunities, evaluate the different options, available to them and decide which option is better. The understanding among team members and shaping of a common purpose depends on effective communication and constructive conflict.

This is turn depends on interpersonal skills such as risk taking, active listening, helpful criticism, and appreciation of the interests and achievements of others. Only rarely do teams have all the skills necessary to accomplish the task. So selection of team members should be based on proven skills[12]. Commitment to a common approach (the way things have to be accomplished) is at least as important as commitment to purpose and goals. The team must have clear idea as to how the purpose and goal of the team is going to be accomplished. There should be an agreement (refer to Exhibit 1.2) on:

• Who will do what?
• What are the schedules, and how they are to be met?
• What are the skills that need to be developed?
• How the team will take decisions?
• On what basis will the team change the existing way of accomplishing its purpose?

Exhibit: 1.2
Team Learning at Boston Celtics

Boston Celtics is a basketball team. This team won 11 of the 13 World championships held between the years 1957 and 1969. How did it do so? Red Auerbach [13], the coach of the team, made sure that every player was on the team as long as he contributed to winning. Everybody’s role in the team was clear. Bill Russell (arguably the best basketball player ever), a player on the team, recollects what his coach told him: “He told me that he was counting on me to get the ball off the backboard and pass it quickly.

This, plus defense, was to be my fundamental role on the team, and as long as I performed these functions well, he would never pressure me to score more points. That conversation was worth a whole season of tactical coaching.” In this case the coach assured Bill Russel that he did not need to improve his score at the cost of team’s success.

The coach of the team was intensely focused on bringing out the collective potential of his team. Team learning was a key part of the Celtics’ daily practice. The coach and the team used to explore various ways to improve their game and tactics. The team members had a high level of solidarity among themselves. Retiring players used to give tips to new players on the competition. Bill Russel further adds, “On the court, the most important measure of how good a game I’d played was how much better I’d made my teammates play.”

Adapted from “Fifth discipline field book,” By: Peter M Senge, Art Kleiner, Charlotte Robberts, Richard B. Ross, Bryan J. Smith, Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing group (1994), p351.

The shaping of a common approach needs:

• Details of the task to be accomplished and
• A fit between individual skills the team task

In effective teams all the members do equivalent amount of work. Everyone in the team, including the team leader, contributes to the team’s work-product [14] in a concrete way. The feeling that everyone is fulfilling his or her role can be an emotionally motivating factor, which can stimulate improved performance.

Team accountability is as important for the success of a team as a common purpose and a common approach are. One characteristic of great teams is mutual accountability. Accountability for the team’s performance needs commitment and trust. These will naturally grow when all the members of the team are diligently pursuing common objective. The common purpose, and common approach will finally make the members responsible for the team’s performance as well. All the effective teams surveyed felt that working with a common purpose, a common approach, and mutual accountability made their experience both energizing and motivating unlike their regular work.

Next Pages

Leadership Approaches That Foster Team Performance

Team Learning

[11] In Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith are partners in the New York office of McKinsey
& Company. They are co-authors of “The wisdom of teams: creating the high-performance
organization” (Harvard Business School Press, 1993).

[12] The potential to develop that particular skill.

[13] Red Auerbach is the architect and mastermind behind the Boston Celtics, one of the most
dominant franchises in professional sports history.

[14] Can be equated to team output.