Mangement Cousel Newsletter: Issue 1
Efficient Teams: Fact or Fantasy

There is a new emphasis on teams in organizations. While teams can be wonderful, it should not be assumed that forming teams will equate with efficiency as a matter of course.

Efficient teams demand a disciplined and practical approach, focused on outcomes that add to the value of the organization.

Many organizations do not focus enough on this outcomes oriented approach. They instead tend to focus on the process of team building, assuming that efficiency and required outcomes from teams will materialize.

Teams Can Be Efficient
There is really no excuse for teams being any less efficient than a traditional "accountability hierarchy" or structure.

Efficiency comes with:
Setting clear goals for the team.
Ensuring team members see themselves as jointly accountable for meeting the team's goals.
Skilled use of team techniques such as agenda management, conflict resolution, and work plan and control.
Strict adherence to follow up on commitments [the "to do list"].

A Common Failing: We Have a Team and So We Do Everything Together
One habit in a team environment that causes significant efficiency losses is the tendency to have meetings amongst all the team to discuss and decide on too many of the issues. Work allocation still needs to be done in a team environment.

Accountability MUST Flow with AUTHORITY
Inefficiency occurs when teams are not assigned accountability and authority in equal measures. Some organizations see teams as "agents for doing work for management approval". If management cannot let the team decide anything, why have the team?
Similarly, one cannot have an "empowered" team if it has no ability to act. What constitutes empowerment, and how one achieves this, is explored in the interesting book "ZAPP! The Lightning of Empowerment" by William Byham.