Irish Independent - 29th November 2007
CAREER DOCTOR

Question:
I have recently been promoted to a team-leader position in a large call centre, but am finding it difficult to work with the people on my team because we have such different personalities. Can you give me some ideas to help us work better together?

Answer:
In essence, for teams to work better together, they have to be clear about what they want to achieve and be willing to stand by each other through thick and thin. Different personalities should be welcomed and respected, provided there is a constant focus on performance. If employees do not see a link between teams and performance, then there is a risk of 'teams' just becoming another management fad.

In their excellent book, The Wisdom of Teams, Jon Katzenback and Douglas Smith refer to five essential disciplines of effective teams:

• A meaningful common purpose the team has helped shape
• Specific performance goals that flow from the common purpose
• A mix of complementary skills
• A strong commitment to how the work gets done
• Mutual accountability

Here is an excellent team-building exercise you could try. To implement this, the team leader (you) will have to coach or facilitate rather than be the boss. Team members should develop their own behavioural change, rather than have it imposed upon them.

1. Ask each member of the team to answer two questions (in confidence):
a) On a scale of 1 to 10, how well are we working as a team?
b) On a scale of 1 to 10, how well do we need to be working together as a team?

2. Then ask: 'If every team member could change two key behaviours which would help us close the gap between where we are and where we want to be, which should we all try to change?'

Prioritise the behaviours and determine the two most important for team members to change.

In a nutshell, while there is enormous untapped potential for team performance in most organisations, outcomes and results must be the primary objective in choosing the team approach, not just the desire to be a team.