Team Building isn’t a Game
Peter de Jager is a provocative Speaker, Writer and Consultant. His primary focus in on how we manage change, technology and the future.
In addition to speaking at conferences worldwide, he also writes monthly columns for CIO Magazine and Computerworld Canada.
His goal is always to question what we think is so, and in so doing perhaps open up new opportunities.
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There isn’t an employee in the world who at one time or another has not
suffered through the indignities of “Team building” exercises. There
is this weird myth that if we can play Monopoly™ together without
killing each other, then this will aid in our ability to work well
together on a real life project. Unfortunately, team building isn’t a
game.
Time and time again I hear people asking for “Team building exercises”,
usually with the added condition it must be fun. There is seldom any
description of what the problem is, no details on how the team’s
performance is not meeting expectations, no explanation of what those
expectations are, just a pre-determined prescription to a problem yet to
be diagnosed. If doctors operated in this manner, we’d all object to
being used as guinea pigs.
What is a team? A useful definition is comprised of three parts. The first
component is a well defined goal. The second is an identified group of
people who wish to jointly achieve that goal. And the third part is a
shared understanding of the roles of each individual as they work towards
that goal.
While simple enough, there’s enough complexity here to keep any manager busy. Does everyone understand the goal definition in the same way? Does everyone really want to achieve that goal? And are everyone’s roles clear to everyone, not just the person with a specific responsibility?
On top of all of this, there is the reality that some goals are detrimental to the career goals of certain team members. Facing those realities, and balancing the books so all members benefit equally, will tax the problem solving abilities of the very best managers.
In this definition of team, there’s something conspicuous by it’s absence… nowhere does it say that the team members have to like each other, or even play well together. Although that type of team spirit is always a bonus.
If a team isn’t working well together, then look first to the definition and find out what part hasn’t been explained properly. Most of the time, teams that require a “tune-up” really only need refocusing on the task.
There are occasions when people just aren’t working well together because of either intentional or unintentional interpersonal conflicts. Occasionally the reasons people don’t work well together are extremely mundane.
A case in point? A severely dysfunctional team was ‘fixed’ by privately and politely pointing out to an employee that closer attention to personal hygiene would make it easier for people to work with her. No rocket science involved, certainly no team building exercises, just a matter of uncovering the thing nobody was willing to talk about and dealing with it directly and honestly. And yes... with empathy where necessary.
Before attempting to fix anything, finding out ‘why’ it isn’t working as expected is a mandatory first step. Anyone facilitating a team building exercise before understanding, or even asking what the real problem is… is pulling a fast one.
Interpersonal conflicts can, and do, create dysfunctional teams. When that happens, it’s time for some deliberately targeted “team building exercises”.
Even with a well defined common goal and clearly delineated responsibilities, working with other people can be a bit difficult at times. Let’s use myself as a slightly (only slightly) exaggerated example. I’m an impatient, highly focused, one task at a time, get the job done now, dedicated problem solver. Place me in the same cubicle with a laid back, big picture, task juggling, next- week- is- soon- enough- and- oh!- isn’t- that- interesting- even- if- doesn’t- have- anything- to- do- with- what- we’re- working- on person… and the sparks will fly.
Unless of course we’re both aware we have different styles of working, and that both approaches are useful at different times, and we BOTH know we have to accommodate the other’s idiosyncrasies. If that’s the case, then we’ll work well together, even if we privately think the other is two knights short of a chess set.
If team members are having difficulty overcoming each other’s personal weirdness, (sorry! I meant to say ‘work styles’), then team building exercises designed to highlight why we’re different, and what we can do about it, can solve those problems. Exercises that focus only on playing together and having fun, will do little if anything to solve real issues. But gee... they're so much fun! Sigh.
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© 2005,
Peter de Jager – Peter is passionate about change, how it affects both
individuals and organizations and allows them to grow and prosper. To contact him, and
host internal seminars on Change Management visit www.technobility.com
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