As Published in Business 2 Business, April 2008

Are Teams Dead?

Restoring Command and Control

By Ira S Wolfe

It was a cold, wintry day in early January when I received a phone call from a curious eccentric who, after a few minutes of cordial conversation, asked me if I thought teams are dead. That was in reference to an idea made in one of my recent columns about how the top frustration among CEOs today is the result of poor execution of strategic plans. (See “The One Reason You Have a Workforce” by Ira Wolfe, February 2008, available on Business2BusinessOnline.Com.)

T.B. was referring to a reference I made in my last column about how the top frustration among CEOs today is poor execution of strategic plans.

While I was contemplating a response all I could picture in my mind was Jim Mora, the former football coach, responding to a reporter’s question: 

“Playoff?” (pause)

“Playoffs? Are you kidding me? Playoffs?” (pause)

“Playoffs?” 

(This likely loses something in the translation but for any of you who have seen the beer commercials featuring Jim Mora, you know exactly the scene I’m describing. A few of you may even remember the actual press conference in 2001 when Mora had his meltdown. But I digress!)

So here I am thinking, “Dead? Teams dead?  Are you kidding me? Teams dead?” With all the talk in the media about globalization and partnering and virtualization and collaboration, teams can’t be dead.  Or can they? So, with a simple 3-word question, this month’s column was born: “Are Teams Dead?”

While my first reaction admittedly was to dismiss this nutty idea about teams dying, I did pause to re-consider.  Could teams become the fall-guy for this failure to execute and from the ashes of old-school management, good ole command-and-control, top-down leadership would rise to save the day?It was at that moment that I recalled George C. Scott, playing the title role of General Patton, in the opening speech to the movie “Patton” saying,

“An Army is a team. It eats, sleeps, fights, as a team. This individuality stuff is a bunch of crap. The bilious bastards who wrote that stuff about individuality for the Saturday Evening Post don’t know anything more about real battle than they do about fornicating.”

Maybe Patton was right. Maybe all this crap about teamwork, alignment, and creating best places to work has made our workforces soft. Maybe having fun at work and kowtowing to everyone’s inner feeling and personal interests worked in the 90s and during the dot-com boom but that was then……and this is now. 

Competing globally today requires discipline and focus, hard work and continuously improving productivity. Maybe it’s time to forget the fluff and just get down to brass tacks.  CEOs just need to tell it like it is and do whatever it takes to get work done.But before you set off walking tall and carrying a big stick, let us not forget how the arrogance and domineering attitude of Jacques Nasser nearly toppled Ford Motor Company. Or how the mere presence of messiah-like “Chainsaw” Al Dunlop cut down Sunbeam? And last but certainly not least, any article about leadership would be myopic if it didn’t mention Angelo Mozilo, the former CEO of Countrywide Mortgage, who has been accused of creating the environment that led to the subprime credit crisis.  Why was his team keeping its head down prior to the crisis but now admit how their practices potentiated the collapse? 

All of these situations demonstrate how strong top-down leadership can be as detrimental to an organization’s success as can be teams. Had any of these organizations had effective teams in place (with “effective” being the differentiator), maybe these self-professed superstars could have been kept in tow – which brings me back to the question: Are Teams Dead? I believe not. 

Globalization is accelerating at a quickening pace. New technologies are being introduced and human capital resources are getting tighter. Complexity is affecting decision-making. Virtual relationships are changing the ways managers manage. Today’s manager must be able to make decisions in a fraction of the time previously devoted to similar decisions. As time becomes a more precious and limited commodity thanks to technology, organizations suffer when their managers can not respond deftly and quickly.  

Unfortunately for many organizations few managers – and even fewer employees - have the experience base upon which to make these quick un-programmed decisions in an uber-competitive and fast changing world. It is for these reasons – globalization, change, and technology – that groups of specialized people will need to form into teams and supplant what was once the domain of a single leader.  

As a result of this entire change and information overload, organizations will need more teams, not fewer. These teams however will be different.  The legacy of teams in the past will be camaraderie and loyalty generation but not necessarily outcomes. If teams moving forward will be measured by business growth and gains in market share, CEO’s will be disappointed unless they change why teams are formed and how they will act.

Looking Back, Moving Forward

So before we hammer the final nail in the team coffin, let’s take a quick look at what’s gone awry with teams in the past and a fresh look at how teams will be the foundation for success in the future.

To be effective teams today need to be specialized, highly skilled, and most of all functional. It’s not that teams have died. It’s the picture that many people have in their minds about teams that has died.  The belief that teamwork requires everyone to be standing around a campfire, holding hands and singing “kumbaya” may create a great visual but it’s not always good for business.  Just ask any manager for his or her proof that harmonious groups are more productive and innovative than conflicted ones and you’re very likely to walk away empty-handed or with a bunch of hooey about morale and team spirit.  You will rarely find any hard facts linking team-building workshops and rope-climbing events to jumpstarting sustainable innovation and productivity.

That’s because team-building and teamwork have been synonymous with creating conflict-free zones. This lack of conflict however doesn’t translate activity into productivity.  It especially doesn’t translate into innovation because innovation requires change and change requires disruption.  Disruption makes people uncomfortable and when people are uncomfortable they tend to disagree.  Managers who can convert disagreement into opportunity will see the world and their business through an exciting, innovative lens.

Ira S Wolfe is the president of Success Performance Solutions and the author of The Perfect Labot Storm™2.0.