Why Teams Matter

"The essence of effective teamwork is to create a product through a collective effort that exceeds the quality of an individual endeavour."

Communication in Cross-Functional Teams - Karl Smart and Carol Barnum

2. Teams promote learning opportunities.

Hand in hand with diversity, working in teams benefits individuals who are exposed to their colleagues’ different approaches, experiences, perspectives and skills.

In addition to our ‘natural’ or preferred Team Roles, we all have manageable Team Roles – behaviours we can adopt from time to time – and which can be cultivated to add another string to our bow.

Watching others in action playing these roles is a great way to learn.

4. Teams offer flexibility

Individual members can come and go, offering their skills, expertise and Team Role contributions at the stage when they are most needed, and then moving on as the project progresses.

Individual activities can be effectively co-ordinated to help people work more effectively, save time and avoid frustration.

6. Teams can mirror organisational values.

A strong team can be a microcosm of the organisation, espousing its values and working towards a shared purpose and a common goal.

When a team is working in harmony with broader aims, the sense of belonging and commitment to the team can extend to the organisation too, giving employees an increased sense of loyalty to their company.

So if teams are so important, why do things go wrong?

In 2016, Harvard Business Review published an article about “collaborative overload” – the over-reliance on teams and collaboration.

According to their data, time spent by managers and employees in collaborative activities had increased by 50% or more over the past two decades, but frequently not to the benefit of individuals or their organisations. 

In demand, but disengaged.

HBR found that those who were in highest demand as collaborators in their companies had the lowest engagement and career satisfaction scores, despite clearly being identified by colleagues as knowledgeable and valuable contributors.

This was because they were frustrated at spending time on ad hoc requests, and wanted to do more training, coaching and mentoring. Once they were collaborating in a more effective way, engagement levels picked up.

People underperform because they’re overwhelmed.

It’s the responsibility of the manager to ensure that work is distributed effectively, not heaped upon the few who show willing.

Allowing helpful people to become a bottleneck is a disservice to all involved, from the individual to the team – even the customer?

But there’s more…

• To create a truly positive team environment requires reflection – on what worked well and how behaviours were used to benefit the team.
• This positive feedback is carried forwards into the next team, making that individual a more effective and engaged collaborator.

"Thanks to the various strengths they bring to the table, teams have the potential to outperform individuals yet often fail to capitalize on this potential.

Finding ways to let team members know about how their behavior positively affected others in the past can offset concerns about social acceptance that come with exposing one’s unique perspectives and identity to others.

Making people aware of their own strengths results in better communication among team members and thus higher levels of performance."

Julia J. Lee, Daniel M Cable, Francesca Gino, Bradley R. Staats, Harvard Business School