Silos, Politics and Turf Wars

Fighting for your department at the budget meeting. Never getting help from another department. Being surprised by changes in plans. Seeing customers caught in a morass of bureaucracy.

These are symptoms of silos, politics and turf wars found in organizations as diverse as charities, hospitals, manufacturing plants, Fortune 500 companies, hotels and restaurants.

In his new book, Silos, Politics and Turf Wars: A Leadership Fable About Destroying the Barriers That Turn Colleagues Into Competitors, Patrick Lencioni spins a fable about a consultant learning to challenge and destroy the barriers in organizations.

The consultant learns through firsthand experience and observation that organizations frequently come together at time of crisis. His key selling point is "Why wait for a crisis?"

The leadership fable is a quick read, followed by a few brief chapters summarizing the key points.

• It all starts with the leadership team.
• Each member of the leadership team needs to remove their functional hat at leadership meetings, and assume the role of "executive" of the company.
  
• The team/CEO needs to identify a key rallying point for the next 6 to 12 months.
• The team needs to define the specific initiatives that will deliver the desired results.
• These initiatives need to be supported by, but not confused with, the ongoing operational objectives.

The book focuses on setting the stage of the needed changes for breaking down the barriers. Organizations needing support in execution will need to pick up other resources.

A quick read. Great points. And a fantastic starting point - "Why wait for a crisis" - to make a change in your department or business.

Teamwork and Social Support

"In the United States, we think about teams as supportive networks of people who are there to help each other. Asian teams are not necessarily warm and fuzzy. Teamwork is a cultural obligation; it's the way the culture operates."

In an interview for Gallup Management Journal, Shelley E. Taylor, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at UCLA notes the cultural disparities in teamwork and support between European Americans and Asians. European Americans believe that building team spirit, pulling together, and being personally supportive are keys to strong teamwork and collaboration. Supporting this perspective on teamwork is work by Edward J. Lawler, Ph.D., Dean of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University. His work focuses on how people come together into a group, develop an emotional attachment, and act in a collective, rather than individual, fashion. He notes a key piece to teamwork is that the positive feelings of success are attributed to the team.

Taylor's research suggests that teamwork for Asians has a different cultural norm. While a group may work together to improve the overall performance, it tends to be intensely competitive, with the focus being, ultimately, on individual success. The team is a vehicle for generating the individual success, and a cultural expectation rather than a source of social support.

When the actions of a team are observed through our own cultural norms, how often are we confused by what we see? Leaders of multinationals in Asia often note the lack of teamwork. Perhaps the perspective of what constitutes a team in Asia needs to changes.

Science of Team Success

"What team members think, feel and do provide strong predictors of team success" and give insights into the design, training and leadership of team, according to "The Science of Success" in the June 2007 issue of Scientific American Mind. In a review of 50 years of research on teams, the authors found a few interesting points.

Is a team needed? Not surprisingly, we need to start with the crucial question of whether a team is even needed; can an individual easily complete the team working independently? This type of team is liable to slow progress.

The collective mind. Various experiments have shown that team members can benefit from the combined knowledge and skills of the team beyond that of individual learning. Further, team turnover hampers the ability to produce. Development of the ability to use the distributed information in a team is enhanced through face-to-face interaction.

Team climate. A shared mission or purpose has a significant effect on the impact of teams. Climate is enhanced through social interactions and positive relationships with the leader or boss of the team.

Disruptions. The emotions of the team members tend to move together. Consequently, an underperformer or an unpleasant or negative person can change the emotions of the entire team. Addressing these disruptions quickly and restoring a positive attitude to the team is a key role for the leader.

Feedback. As teams cycle through projects, their performance can be improved through interventions as above and feedback on the process. Research suggests that feedback aimed at individuals will improve individual performance at a cost of team performance. Conversely, team feedback enhances team performance to the detriment of individual performance. In the development of ongoing teams, leaders need to carefully consider the elements of feedback and whether they should be delivered to the individual or the team.

Training. Teamwork skills can be taught and improved, whether in the classroom, in simulations, or on the job.

Research continues to provide insights into the dynamics of teamwork and team performance. While giving credence to the wisdom of the years, the role of the leader stays the same - be clear on the direction, provide the correct resources, ensure the team has the necessary skill sets (individually and collectively), motivate team performance, enable social interactions, intervene when issues arise, and celebrate positive results.

For more details, see the Scientific American Mind: The Science of Team Success.