Reasons for the Request for Teambuilding

Conflict between key leaders is a concern, and it prompts many requests for teambuilding. If some key leaders at the top of the organization are operating in an independent manner and complaining about other leaders, an intervention may be needed. Teamwork is not the same thing as functioning as an effective team, but it is still an important objective. Many of the tools provided in the previous chapters can be used to help develop teamwork even if the leadership team does not intend to work as a true team.

If the purpose of the intervention is to promote camaraderie and cooperation, many networking opportunities are possible, fun, and interesting and may fill the bill. The members may need to get to know each other (using exercises such as those described in chapter 2), improve their conflict resolution skills (see chapter 7), and/or work on their communication skills (see chapter 5) to ensure that the left hand knows what the right hand is doing. Confidential interviews with each of the top leaders and observations of their meetings provide valuable diagnostic insights regarding what kind of interventions to propose. The more you involve these powerful people in the design of the intervention, the more likely it will have a chance to make a difference. I have found that leaders at the top of their organization agree to attend all kinds of off-sites but don't always use the sessions to actually change their behaviors unless they feel it was their idea in the first place.

Another purpose underlying a request for teambuilding at the top is to get two or three key functions to work closely together to solve a problem that stretches across organizational boundaries. Instead of dragging the entire leadership team through some teambuilding activities, I usually suggest that a subgroup receive help in becoming a model problem-solving task force. The subgroup clarifies its purpose and verifies whether it has enough people with the knowledge and skills to investigate the matter. We then use the opportunity to impose the team discipline of systematic problem solving as the cornerstone of their procedures for meeting together. The 4-A Plus 2 problem-solving method (see chapter 6) pushes the group to determine what the issues are, rather than play political games to determine who is at fault. The method enhances the effectiveness and efficiency of the task force's effort and serves as a model for other problem-solving teams throughout the organization. It may also set a precedent that the larger leadership team holds regular meetings just to keep each other informed but uses task forces when there is truly something to produce, such as a solution to a specific problem.

I have also had leadership teams request my teambuilding services because they were launching a team-based approach to change at the shop-floor level and they felt they needed to set an example. The key question to ask is, "What is the group supposed to produce?" If it is not truly producing something, you don't want to point to it as a model of an effective team. Team members at the shop-floor level work with each other every day for their whole shift. Leadership teams may meet once a week and either produce no products or services or produce plans that may take months to develop. However, leadership teams do need to produce a vision statement and a plan for the organization's team concept and thus may need teambuilding to help them succeed as a steering committee. It is more important that this group of key leaders provide a sense of direction for the overall team-based change effort than to set itself up as a model of how teams are to function.

Leaders at the top of their organization must provide support for shop-floor teams that make things and for problem-solving committees and task forces that resolve issues to help the overall organization benefit from a team-oriented approach. Communication of this support comes in the form of a well- articulated plan for the use of teams and provision of the resources needed to activate the plan. The leaders need to make sure that the actions that occur are consistent with their words, and they must be experts on the team concept process. They need to be able to answer questions from members of self-directed work teams and task forces about the game plan for teams. Leaders must also show their genuine belief in teamsnot merely go through the motions . They need to lead with their heart as well as their mind. The message has to be heard consistently from each and every leadership team member, and the message cannot be delivered at the launch of a team concept and never heard from again.

Leadership teams often feel that they should go through the same teambuilding sessions they are prescribing for others. While it may be helpful for them to go through many of the same exercises to gain greater empathy for the difficulty work teams and committees may face, if those "teambuilding" sessions emphasize only communication and cooperation, this may send the wrong message and be cascaded inappropriately. Leadership team members can share lessons from these training programs and their own efforts to work together to produce plans, principles, and events. Don't leave the impression that getting along is the only thing it takes to have a healthy , effective team.