Creating Better Teams in the Workplace
Today, we are approaching communication from a team perspective.
“The Discipline of Teams”, by Katzenbach and Smith, break down what it truly means to be a part of a team that produces solutions and results, as opposed to being apart of just an arbitrary label.
“We also found that teams and good performance are
inseparable; you cannot have one without the other. But people use the word team so loosely that it gets in the way of learning and applying the discipline that leads to good performance” (Katzenbach, Smith, p. 112, 1993).
Sound familiar? Career Civility believes the word communication has become so arbitrary that people can’t tell what is productive communication versus not.
And according to Katzenbach and Smith, the word team has lost weight too.
Further… “For managers t
o make better decisions about whether, when, or how to encourage and use teams, it is important to be more precise about what a team is and what isn’t” (Katzenbach, Smith, p. 112, 1993).
So, how can managers do that?
First - establish what is a team versus a working group.
A team - two or more individuals working together for a collective output
A working group - a collection of work based individual goals and initiatives
Second - create purpose within the team.
And lastly - define specific, attainable goals.
Teams, and working groups, can be highly effective and produce stellar results for the overall organization, as long as the team or the working group is equipped with the tools to do so.
It’s important to understand the nuances of teams versus working groups, to create purpose, and develop sound goals to work towards.
It might seem like a no brainer, but you’d be surprised how often the human aspect is removed from the workplace. In the corporate world, teams are created for revenue generating purposes and the value of humanity is lost.
At Career Civility, I challenge that framework. If we focus on the people, and we have the knowledge to create steadfast teams or working groups, we can foster a more productive workplace.
References -
Katzenbach, J. R., & Smith, D. K. (2008). The discipline of teams. Harvard Business Press.
Photography by Lauren Lucille Creative
