Is Your Organization Ready For Teamwork

The establishment of cross-functional teams requires a lot of thought and open communication. The probability of success depends on the readiness of your organization to implement major change and capability to establish teams.  Teams offer a competitive advantage to organizations:

Teams require less overhead than traditional organizations and give better service…

Teams give and advantage where quality is a major issue, where service is a major issue, and where cost is a major issue – and I don’t know any business where those there aren’t a major issue.

Further, teams offer a way for employees to enrich their work. They no longer have to “park their brains at the door” when arriving at work. These kinds of organizations allow people to make decisions and to function in a way that builds their self-esteem rather than in a way that erodes it.

To help organizations get started, try the following teamwork test:

Do employees depend on each other extensively within or across functions or departments?

How and where might better coordination (teamwork) enhance your productivity, quality, or customer service?

How and where would work teams benefit your organization and employees?

How would employee teams fit your organization’s long-term goals and strategies?

How will a team-based organization affect your resources?

What influence would employees teams have on job satisfaction and employee commitment?

The new team culture requires that employees contribute, initiate action, ask questions, solve problems, and share responsibility for the success of the team, department, and organization. It requires that they own their own behavior and become team players rather than individual experts operating in a vacuum. It means improving their coordination, communications, and decision-making within the context of a department team or multiple teams. The bottom line is that they become more accountable for what and how they do things and for sharing the responsibility for the culture change… the change in culture requires a journey for all organizational members.