Assigning ResponsibilitiesAccountability

Assigning Responsibilities/Accountability

During the team's reframing of business relationships, each person identified the other team members with whom they had communication issues. At this point, they thought about another set of issuesthose related to responsibilities and accountability. As a team member, what issues were they concerned about? Which issues did they believe fell within their area of responsibility? In which cases were they unsure where their responsibility ended and another team member's began ? Which decisions had to be made, and who should make them?

In the past, decisions had been made mainly by Art, either unilaterally or after consulting several individuals one at a time. On one hand, this practice made team members feel disenfranchised and neglected. On the other hand, it was a convenient way of avoiding responsibility and remaining uninvolved. And it increased the level of paranoia among people who felt they were in constant competition. After a decision had been made, it was usually up to Art to defend it to his superiors, a responsibility that he had willingly taken on.

Now, position became less important than value added. Who owned the information needed to make and implement the decision? Whose commitment was essential for implementation?

With this in mind, team members who had overlapping areas of responsibility set up meetings with one another to sort things out. For each issue, this involved creating a road map that outlined, in linear fashion, each step that needed to be taken to achieve resolution. Agreement was reached on who would be held accountable for each step, when they would hand off responsibility, and to which colleague the torch would be passed.

Take head count as an example: When the knotty issue of who gets additional staff and who does not comes up again, it will not be resolved by Art and the vice president of human resources. The HR executive will act as the point person, consulting with the heads of the functional and business groups. Based on the information gathered, this executive will make a recommendation to the full team. For the first time, the teamnot Artwill make the call.

Clarifying Goals

The fourth area in which a team needs to be aligned to move into stage three involves goal setting. Earlier chapters provided several examples of how clear, measurable goals, which are tied to the strategy of the overall organization, enable a team to cut through the clutter and begin carrying out the job it is being paid to do. During the alignment we have been describing, the senior R&D team did not get into this area, since the top corporate management team was preparing for a full-scale review of the business strategy. Ideally, the revised strategy and the operational goals that flowed from it would have been in place before the teams were aligned. But, in the real world, the road to high performance does not always follow a straight line, and, on the positive side, if a team goes through an alignment prior to a strategy session, they will be able to discuss goals with a greater level of authenticity.

Moving to Stage Four

It is important to remember that, at the end of an alignment session, a team is not in stage four. To use Tuckman's verbiage, it is still "norming" and is not yet "performing." The seeds of high performance have been sown, and in the coming months, the team will probably experience some stage-four moments, but it may take months for the team to become deeply rooted in stage four. After their initial alignment, the team members must work hard to maintain the momentum, and how this is accomplished will be explored later in the chapter.

Throughout a team's journey to high performance, there are several factors that can either help or hinder it. These are highlighted in Figure 4-1.

There are many factors that can either inhibit or enhance a team's movement around the team-development wheel, depending on how they are handled by management. How does your team manage these factors?

1. How the Team Members Are Chosen

Inhibits if they are selected because "someone has to do it, and it's your turn ."

Enhances if their skills and experience are relevant to the issues that need to be resolved.

2. The History that Exists Among the Team Members

Inhibits if they have never worked together before. Has an even greater negative impact if they have a history of rivalry and ineffective interactions.

Enhances if they have worked together successfully in the past.

3. How the Team Members Are Prepared

Inhibits if the team members are not made aware of their goals, if they are not given a sense of the importance of the team's mission.

Enhances if the connection between their assignment and a strategic imperative is explained at the outset.

4. Who Explains the Team's Mission

Inhibits if it is left up to their functional leader.

Enhances if senior management demonstrates the importance of the mission by meeting with the team before it begins its duties .

5. Who Leads the Team

Inhibits if the team leader assumes everyone is on board from day one, doesn't encourage candor to get out of stage one, can't manage emerging conflict in stage two, or wants to command and control.

Enhances if the team leader recognizes which stage(s) the team members are in at the beginning, encourages candor, isn't afraid of open conflict, and is able to accept the role of facilitator rather than decision maker.

6. How the Team Will Be Judged and Compensated

Inhibits if the team members continue to be judged and compensated only on their performance of their functional duties.

Enhances if, from the outset, team members are aware that a portion of their performance rating ”and compensation ”will be based on the contribution they make to the team.

Figure 4-1: Inhibiting/Enhancing Factors in Team Development.

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