Teamwork Suffering in Downturn

I have just read a very disturbing, yet unsurprising article reporting that 12% of workers admit to having become more insular during the recession.

At the very time when companies need greater interaction and greater interdependency (teamwork), individuals are seeking to protect their own workloads and projects and around some 27% admit to working longer hours.

The report quotes Mike Bourne, professor of business performance at Cranfield University School of Management as saying,

“Team collaboration and knowledge sharing is essential to help businesses chart a way through the current climate. However, while some employees are understandably worried about job security, firms with business processes to automate teamwork are able to reconcile both workforce productivity and personal performance.”

See report here.

I'm not sure whether it is part of British DNA or culture, but we seem to really struggle with the concept of working together to achieve a common goal. Perhaps we've had experiences where we've been betrayed by those whom we have trusted, or had others leapfrog over us as they take our ideas and use them for personal gain and promotion.

Unfortunately, these sad characters will always be with us.

But teamwork is exactly the forum that will help to expose these individuals and it provides the team with a level of security impossible to achieve on an individual level. Who in their right mind (if they are that way inclined) will take on a group of people, a group which is likely to include members of the management team?

But teamwork isn't really about sinking these rogue battleships; it's about achieving an objective more quickly, efficiently and completely than is possible when we work alone.

The proof is in the marketplace. Look at the most successful companies and see how many of these use teams and creative approaches to problem solving and company direction. A recent survey suggested that in business cultures which engender trust and co-operation, productivity is around 269% greater than where it is absent.

I guess it's up to us whether we choose to believe the statistics and give it a go ... or continue as we are. Only time, and possibly company solvency will tell.

Innovation: A Team Sport

Innovation and creativity are not entities and they do not happen spontaneously.

They are the fruits of people, people interacting and working together, complete with all of the friction and personality clashes. Innovation is analogous to a musical writing partnership or team sports. If all roles are performing well, we get a positive force for innovation. And just with sports teams, it is not essential to have total excellence in every area. Some of the most effective and innovative teams have true excellence in one or two areas combined with strength in many others. There may be stars in our team, but the team is the powerhouse.

Perspiration, dedication and hard work are also at the centre of creativity and innovation, honing skills practiced and developed over long periods of time, until they really work. Here are Some basic principles for success:

Stretch for Strength: Flexibility is more important than strength, size or power. Many 'giants' of the business world have disappeared as smaller, more nimble companies stole the market through exercising their flexibility and operating according to new business models.

Go for distance: Innovation is less about a programme and more about a way of life; a culture. It is a culture that should be at the centre of every part of an organisation and one which continues to evolve and develop with time, and over time. It is about longevity rather than fad.

Never give in: Wherever there is innovation there are obstacles and these must be overcome. Personalities within our teams will be able to see ways around whatever obstacle is in the way or objection raised. At these times close collaboration and problem sharing are essental for going the distance.

Fight the mental battles: One of the biggest obstacles or hurdle to our progress looms in the battle of the mind; our psyche. To quote Tom Kelley, 'Innovators have the uncommon sense to pursue ideas long after others give up.'

Celebrate the coach: Behind every great sports team there is a geat coach. Behind every great project team there is a great coach. They may not be in the limelight, but they labour tirelessly in the background making sure everything and everyone stays together. The right coach brings out the best and we notice the difference

The most successful teams comprise a rich mix of different types of people with different personalities or personas, different talents and abilities, different temperaments. The correct mix will produce sufficient innovative friction to push forward the team and push forward the innovative process.

When innovation is experienced, it is a mighty force to inspire further innovation. Perhaps the most important step is to make a start, no matter how small, get the innovation engine turning over, see the benefits and build on them. And these benefits will be pretty obvious when they occur, hopefully enough to overcome politics and convert even the most cynical as they see a turn-around in their group, department, business unit or company.

And innovation doesn't just turn companies around, it becomes a way of life.