Last week I met up with a couple of my ex-colleagues and was reminded how the power of team was truly awesome.
“Great things in business are never done by one person; they’re done by a team of people”
Steve Jobs
The ability to create and form high performing teams is an indication of great leadership, and whilst we all recognize individual performance and contribution, prioritizing individual performance limits success as a whole.
The opportunity to become a valued team player is personally fulfilling, however organizations have difficulty in quantifying business synergy (the total is more than sum of the parts) success. Giving this measure challenge, individuals tend to be geared towards independent goals. A common organizational pitfall is the way individuals are allocated objectives. Team or project initiatives are set the same functional ‘silo’ business as usual measures – none reflecting the value add of the ‘improvement’ that will materialize across the business as a whole. For example, imagine if a procurement goal was to reduce the volume of accounts payable invoicing issues.
Good leaders understand the need to think holistically, break down the barriers and use the bigger picture to inspire and motivate. Individuals can become frustrated if there is a lack of vision and strategic direction with respect to an overall business outcome – we all need to glimpse the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ and have our role explained as part of that success journey.
Technology enablement requires cross functional collaboration and it goes without saying that one of the most important ‘success’ ingredients is to align the best talent and have them operate as ‘one team‘. Internal communication and dysfunction remain the biggest hurdle in organizational transformation, and leaders must ‘commit’ to ensure that these initiatives are resourced appropriately, supported wholly, and visibly recognized as being critical to the overall vision.
This is more than sending individuals on team building development courses. To address the challenge in bringing back those lessons into the workplace, great leaders set the agenda to frame team success.
AYSCO CONSULTING 