As the hierarchy of organizations flattens, there is a strong business case to be made for investing in Team Effectiveness. The dynamics of employee roles and interactions has seen a major shift with the growth of the GIG economy, outsourcing, and the race for talent. Based on the evolving and fast changing environment in organizations, Declan Fitzsimons suggests that, “Organizations today are drawn to the benefit of leadership that is shared, rather than concentrated in a single, charismatic individual.” Wikipedia defines Shared Leadership as, “A leadership style that broadly distributes leadership responsibility such that people within a team and organization lead each other.”
Even if you don’t agree with this line of thinking or feel that it would be challenging to implement a shared leadership model, it is hard to deny that how we view relationships at work is clearly changing. Team effectiveness represents a largely untapped area of development in many organizations. Companies typically invest in senior leaders as part of their succession planning process. But, one could argue that more than a handful of people seldom feel the value of that investment. But, if you invest that same amount of money you would spend to send one executive to an Executive Education Program, you could train multiple team members on Team Effectiveness.
Team Effectiveness, as referred to in this blog, is defined as educating team members on understanding personality types, how to communicate effectively, managing conflict, team norms, and leadership behaviors. Team development sends a strong message of confidence and value to the employees, assists in preventing failed initiatives, prepares the team for the challenges they face, encourages innovation, leverages the strengths of the individual team members, and helps address the retention of key talent. The challenge we are faced with today is that companies need employees, and in many cases, employees do not need companies.
Developing employees further down in the organization creates an informal coaching process supported by establishing best practices for future initiatives and driving results. Depending on the length of the team project, you could be spending 20%+ of an employee’s salary on a new initiative for 6 months or longer. Strategic initiatives are typically a major investment for the organization and can cost $100,000+, depending on the size and scope of the project and organization.
As you think about how you achieve your goals for the year, think strategically about the teams you need and how you develop those employees to achieve team excellence. How would you rate the team effectiveness in your organization? Are your teams prepared to trust versus feeling vulnerable, and do they have the insight to eliminate blind spots in favor of team success over individual success?