I recently ran across a thought provoking article on team-building that really caught my eye. It's entitled, "Why Team Building Doesn't Work and How You Can Build Your Team," by Hildy Gottlieb. In her article, Hildy highlights several intriguing points about team-building of which I think all facilitators and trainers should be conscious.

First off, she notes that Team Building has become increasingly viewed as "the solution" in organizations where team members aren't getting along. These efforts usually focus on the particular individuals who have "bad morale" or who are unproductive. She summarizes the thinking behind team building as always the same:

Team Building proposes that it is possible to build trust and engender positive working relationships among people who obviously aren't feeling any of those feelings to start with (otherwise, the team building wouldn't be necessary!), although concerted effort on the part of those who are "misbehaving."

There are certainly untold numbers of cases where organizations have tried Team Building and declared it a failure--usually blaming the team. "We've tried everything, but we just can't get them to work together!" Still, organizations continue to look to Team Building to boost both morale and productivity. So what's going on here? Does Team Building work or not?

Where "Team Building" Often Fails

Many people hate Team Building exercises that may feel contrived and too "touchy-feely," especially by those people who may be distrustful in the first place. It may be difficult to build trust using a tool the participants don't trust.

Team building often happens offsite in a retreat-like setting away from the workplace, or over a weekend. This new environment, combined with Team Building activities might create some great short-term effects, but once back in the environment where the problems started, they usually return, and in full force.

Very often, Team Building is management's prescription to heal the symptoms of deeper issues they are failing to seek or to see. If this is truly the case, no wonder Team Building results are so often short lived. They can be likened to taking pain killers for a broken leg--they work great when you're taking them, but miss a dose and you're hurting again!

If team dysfunction is only a symptom of deeper issues, issues that frustrate and confound team member's best efforts, it's natural for frustration to increase. And when we're frustrated, we're not usually on our best behavior. So we snap at each other, argue, get sloppy with our work, etc. which just adds to the confusion and frustration further. In time, this appears to be a team with a problem, which is certainly true. But if we only look at the surface level problem and not the deeper cause, we become like allopathic physicians treating chronic illnesses--we keep medicating, never getting to the source.

With that said, what are some of the suspect sources to the deeper issues we're alluding to? I think we all have experienced them. Things like lack of leadership and direction, ineffective policies and systems, no vision, poorly articulated values, dysfunctional or mis-assigned individuals. None of these problems lie with the rank and file, nor will they respond to Team Building efforts. These problems need to be dealt with head-on.

Getting to the Source

Once we're aware that something is amiss in our team, Hildy recommends asking the following simple questions about the apparent problem to help peel away the layers to its source:

1) What is this stopping us from doing?

2) Why is this important?

3) How is this keeping us from better helping our group or the organization?

Though these questions sound simple, sticking with them long enough to uncover their answers causes us to dig down to source issues. Here's a hypothetical example to show how these questions might work in a real situation.

Staff Example

A 10 person working group at an IT organization feels it needs Team Building because they argue all the time and are always missing deadlines. Taken at face value, one would assume the goal of Team Building is that the team would work better together. By asking "What is this arguing stopping us from doing?," the team might note that the arguing was keeping them from solving problems and getting their jobs done effectively. When asked "Why is it important for them to do their jobs effectively?," some members might admit that they really didn't know. Now the team can begin talking about their uncertainty about roles of some members and how their work supports the organization's overall mission. By asking "How is this keeping us from better helping the organization?" the discussion can lead the team to realize that if they don't clearly know their tasks and how they fit into the overall picture, they can't do much to make their team or their company any better.

Summary

When approached by a group wanting Team Building services, engage your client in an interview to uncover the source of the issue that's causing the team problems. Team Building may still be needed, but perhaps not. Perhaps the leader needs coaching on leadership or management skills. Perhaps one team member needs to be confronted individually about his/her behavior and clearly presented with expectations and consequences. It could be that the policies or systems in place in the organization are stifling and frustrating the efforts of the team. Maybe certain dysfunctional behaviors are being rewarded either directly or indirectly that are impeding the team. Perhaps the tools, resources, or something else in the work environment is frustrating the team's efforts. And maybe all the foundational pieces are pretty well in place and a Team Building intervention could really help the group. If this is the case, it's very likely to make a difference if the systems and structures people return to flex to accommodate the new desired behaviors. In either case, be a detective and look for what's under the cry for help to best serve your client.

Why Teams Don't Work: What Goes Wrong and How to Make It Right. by Harvey A. Robbins, Michael Finley

Read Chapter 5 on "misplaced goals, confused objectives," and you'll start getting a good handle on where most team problems lie. How many of us really understand what Demming meant when he stated that a good goal is not a number? The authors do. They know that a good goal is something that brings out passion. A good goal gives people something to respond to, buy into, claim ownership over. This is not a happy talk book about teams. With all the things that can go wrong with teams, and do, it's surprising they work at all. "Teams are trouble." Having this book available on your reference shelf will help you handle and minimize the inevitable missteps the next time you're asked to serve on a team, or lead it. --Michael Chiodi, author, The Art of Building People