Organizations often work diligently to put the right team in place, empower that team with the appropriate tools, and create a positive culture to drive results. However, one key aspect of the business is often forgotten, ignored, or left up to chance – how do team members actually work together on a day-to-day basis? In this blog, we will explore how to provide the guidance necessary to deliberately create the culture that your organization needs.
Why Bother Defining Team Interaction Points?
Consider the following three examples of how a team could work on the same project. Team Leaders:
- Divide work into separate items that they assign to each team member. Team members are expected to complete their work independently, reporting out to the leader weekly on what is occurring.
- Assign all work to all team members. The team drives the success of the project as they see fit, reporting out monthly to the leader.
- Create a defined team structure, appointing team members to play specific roles that work together to drive the success of a project, reporting out to the team leader as they see fit.
Parts of these scenarios likely appeal to you and your personal style and preference. You may believe that it would be very difficult to work in one of these types of environments. Some people prefer rigid team structures, others prefer to no structure at all. Some prefer teamwork, others prefer to work individually. Some team-leaders like to be involved daily, others monthly.
Despite these strong preferences, when asked what style a business prefers, many business leaders would be unable or unwilling to speak for anyone outside of their team. As a result, individual teams may function well, but cross-functional projects can be a significant challenge. Similarly, when leaders are allowed to mold their team to their personal preferences, leadership teams may struggle to work together.
While in many cases this challenge arises as small businesses grow into medium sized businesses, this problem also plagues businesses with regional divisions, businesses with recent acquisitions, and businesses with unique practice groups. In each of these cases, we often find that these separate teams struggle to work with one another.
Balancing Freedom and Structure
Take a moment to consider your preferred work style and your team’s preferred styles. You most likely have a variety of opinions on your team. As a result, you as a leader may need to define a structure that allows for freedom and fluidity for some and allows for ownership and structure for others. Consider the following questions as you look to build your team’s structure:
- What does “ownership” mean at my organization?
- What is the role of a leader/coach? Do they guide work or assign work?
- How important is cross-functional teamwork to my business?
- Would any teams benefit from a more individualistic framework?
- Who are the key points of contact within my team for other teams/lines of business?
In most situations, leaders prefer to have a balance that allows for individuals to assume ownership of a workstream and drive it to success but not feel “left out on an island” without a team or guidance to support. While this balance may feel challenging to achieve, in reality employees simply need to know when they are out on their own versus when they have support. In most cases, the worst case scenario is a team member assuming they will have support and not receiving it, or a team leader hoping to have influence over a workstream that their team members take too many liberties on.
In order to define these boundaries, organizations do not need to define every possible situation. Instead, they should set reasonable expectations for the work that they complete. Take the time to answer the above questions and communicate the answers to your team to ensure that responsibilities are clearly defined and support structures are in place.