Forming teams

Forming a Team

It may seem a little backwards, to present forming a team after the other articles, but they were necessary for the foundation of the rest of what is to come including this article.

I grew up in an interesting house. My sister and I were German, and had learned something of the German culture before we were adopted. Also my adopted parents reinforced some of our German heritage because they did not want us to lose that cultural identity. My dad was a third or fourth generation American originally from a Celt clan in Ireland, who family at some point after coming to the States raised tobacco. Most likely the potato blight in Ireland, gave them new ideas about a cash crop. My mother was a naturalized American originally a Canadian and a third generation Pole. As a result we had a lot of interesting sayings. One was, there are too many cooks in the kitchen. Having cooked I know what she means. Not only do the people start getting in the way, but everyone has an idea about how the job ought to be done. Mom soon learned, especially with have kids, who she wanted doing what, and who she didn’t. Sometimes she felt the job was best done by her, other times it was us and her, and periodically it was her and an aunt. The men had to stay outside the kitchen. Booze simply made them too creative.

Similarly when make decisions, solving problems, or whatever else a team may be working on it is wise to think who necessary. Sometimes a single individual can make the best decision or do the best job. At other times two to seven people may be necessary. Each person on the team must be needed for a particular talent or influence they possess. Additionally the task must be challenging to the team; if it is a slam dunk they will wonder what they have to meet.

Before selecting the team the job must be defined, for my mom if it was a fish fry it meant involving a least one beer drinking person, my dad. If it was a barbeque it was again my dad and anyone else who brought meat; if they wanted to cook it themselves. It was thanksgiving dinner it was mom and maybe an aunt. Earlier on in the meal preparation it was my sister and I doing the prep work. Prep work is kitchen lingo for peeling potatoes etc. So she knew her goal, she knew who she wanted on the project; she knew when to put the turkey in, the pies in, the cabbage rolls, etc. In business lingo, she knew the time frame for it portion of the meal and the overall meal. Mom also knew where to draw the line on the scope of authority; in general Mom was the general of the kitchen, the aunt was the colonel, and everyone else was a corporal – just there to follow orders.

Beyond my mom’s team, business teams have a few other things to sort out.

· Leadership: will the position be appointed, elected by the group, or rotated?
· How will the team be held accountable?
· Will the team need a name and logo (this may seem dumb, but in certain businesses given teams can be a permanent fixture)?
· Where will the team meet?
· Will there be alternative means for the team to communicate when they are not together etc.

We all want team members to not feel their time spent on a team could be better spent on another project. Even worse we do not want team members feeling that the project was a complete waste of their time. Either of these scenarios usually causes the members to feel that the senior people do not really care about them. This in turn leads to people not trust bosses. Once that happens it is easy for the people to generalize it to the rest of the organizational structure. Then it becomes each person or click doing just enough to keep the boss’ happy, and the rest of their time focusing on their job and personal priorities. Just like a team of draft horses, (I am not equating employees to working animals here; I am just trying to draw a parallel in function) if all are not pulling in the same direction progress will be slow if at all.