Responding to Roger Key in LO27814 --
Roger, replying to LO27742, writes (in part):
>If we do not have groups of people working as teams we have evidence that
>we have an environment that opposes team working.
That is certainly one way of stating it. Another would be that people see
no value in working in or as teams. We can chalk this up to "an
environment" but that will not take us as quickly to effective action.
...snip...
>If we have identified that we need to build our teams (teambuilding as an
>objective) this indicates that there are two (black and white here)
>possible reasons. Either that we do not have an environment that supports
>teams or that there is a skills deficit within the staff.
Why either/or? Why couldn't both be at work? My assumption would be that
both factors will have to be addressed.
For what it's worth, I'll ask another questions: Are teams a good thing
in this company? One of the sad-funny-silly-stupid things I've seen over
the years is an attempt to foster-promote-instill teamwork when teamwork
was not the thing to do. Teamwork rests on a foundation of
interdependency. Much work by many people is more or less independent of
what others do. Trying to get people to work as teams when they're not is
a futile undertaking. Worse, it gives teams and teamwork a bad name and
leaves a bad taste in lots of mouths.
So, before running off to "do training" or "arrange a supportive
environment," I'd check the nature of the work itself.
Regards,
Fred Nickols
740.397.2363
nickols@att.net
"Assistance at A Distance"
http://home.att.net/~nickols/articles.htm
--Fred Nickols <nickols@att.net>
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