We all want strong teams - the stronger the better. However, where are the boundaries? Can a team be too strong? Yes, it can. A manager who pays too much attention to his team can hurt the team in a similar manner as a manager who does not actively try to strengthen his team.
Joseph Grenn,a world-renowned expert on improving corporate performance, writes about too strong teams in an interesting article on the Harvard Business Review website. According to an extensive research carried out by his company VitalSmarts, managers who identify themselves too strongly with their teams reduce the volume of executed plans in their teams by 11% and innovation by 12%.
"Certainly the work of team leaders is to turn a collection of individuals into a productive collective. But if their focus stops there, the larger enterprise will inevitably devolve into a bunch of competing tribes – in which organizational mission is subordinated to team performance and identification with the team is less a function of healthy trust and more of mutual protection." explains Joseph Grenn.
Are you spreading the tribal virus?
To determine whether tribalism of your team is winning over the mission of your business, ask yourself the following questions. If you answer yes, you are the type of leader Joseph Grenny describes as a "carrier of the tribal virus" who stands in the way of successful development of his organization.
1. Do you treat your team's budget and resources as your own property?
2. Is your team unaware of how various tasks are associated with the company's mission?
3. Do you see members of other teams and departments as competitors?
4. Do you prohibit your team members from contacting your superiors or their colleagues from other teams without your previous permission?
How to turn a tribe into a team
1. Get in touch with others
A good leader encourages frequent contact of his team members with people outside the team's environment. When employees solve different problems with different colleagues, they identify better with the company's mission and feel a greater responsibility for meeting corporate goals.
2. Do not be afraid of problems
You can show your commitment to the company's mission best when you are willing to draw attention to problems and solve them both within your team and the company. Do not wait until someone from above assigns you specific responsibility for solving problems.
3. Learn to give up some needs
If you build your team culture on prioritizing the needs of the team over the needs of the company, you are leading a tribe.
Author and books
Joseph Grenny is an American expert on improving corporate performance. His company VitalSmarts has trained hundreds of executives from around the world and initiated a successful series of books on the topic of managing people and companies. Some books written by the team of VitalSmarts consultants Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler, have been translated into Czech and published by Management Press.
The books include Influencer: The Power to Change Anything (2012), Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High (2013) or Crucial Accountability: Tools for Resolving Violated Expectations, Broken Commitments, and Bad Behavior (2014)
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