Five Keys to Successful Teams

I ran across this neat article on leading teams and thought it was worth passing along to ED Futures reader.

"Richard Hackman is an interviewer’s dream: Mallory Stark has only to ask a short question to elicit a detailed answer enlivened by Hackman’s personality. We start the interview with the background information that in his book, Leading Teams: Setting the Stage for Great Performances, Hackman argues that five conditions exist for successful teamwork: A team must be real, not nominal; it must have a compelling direction; its structure is well-designed to enable the team; it operates within a supportive organizational context; and it has expert teamwork coaching. The interview questions draw out the author on what leaders can do to cultivate these five conditions.

No one right way exists, says Hackman, but to succeed in encouraging teamwork, leaders need to “know some things”, “need to know how to do some things, and need superior emotional maturity and political acumen. Although the third of these may sound challenging, the first two sound simple and easy. Not so. Based on his research, Hackman claims that what most leaders think they know about teamwork is simply wrong. It’s not feasible to judge this claim without reading the book, but his example – the belief that “harmony helps teamwork” – has been challenged often enough in the business literature. “Know how to do some things” involves leadership skill in balancing control and authoritative guidance. Hackman’s statement that leaders should be insistent about not specifying how the team should go about achieving the ends clearly set by the leader seems too sweeping, though may well be more nuanced in his book.

Getting the five conditions in place also calls for emotional maturity – one aspect of which is detailed in an excerpt from the book. Here Hackman notes that complex organizations typically can only be shifted in new directions during temporary periods of turbulence and instability. The leader therefore must be like a lion who holds back, only to pounce at the right time. We might think of this as a kind of rational/strategic procrastination. Just in case any leaders think “lying in wait” is an excuse to take it easy, Hackman explains the kinds of detailed preparation work needed to get ready. He also notes some important aspects of political acumen, many of which can be put into play during the waiting and preparing phase. You’ll find plenty of other well-made points in this piece, including Hackman’s view of the biggest challenges faced by most team leaders; where most organizations go wrong with teamwork; and how his focus on the performance of real-time teams (cockpit crews, music ensembles, surgical teams) highlights lessons for more forgiving teamwork contexts."

Source: Many Worlds

Does your economic development team meet this litmus test? If not, maybe you have some team-building work ahead.