Emergence of a New Team Template, Part II

By Richard Russey

In this follow up to Emergence of a New Team Template, Part I, I’ll discuss a few more essential components of a new work team template – a template that is appropriate to the challenging times in which we now lead our organizations and hopefully work effectively with our teams. The principles to be covered in Part II include: assigning teams flexibly; expanding the resource pool (that is, expanding the idea of “team”); the very deliberate act of composing a team of people and resources; the art of leading teams towards change; providing ample opportunities for staff and team development; and the critical role of the leader as a hands-on team visionary and champion.

Assign Teams Flexibly
As has been previously stated, the difficult task of a leader in today’s world is to create teams starting with the basic tenant of flexibility. A leader works exponentially harder when building a team appropriate to a specific task, but the results are exponentially greater as well. Why? Precisely because any given project or assignment should be addressed by a team built to specifically address the unique requirements of the project tasks. Assigning teams flexibly means to allow oneself to metaphorically “color outside the lines.” But, it is critical to also recognize from the get-go that any team should be considered a “team” for only as long as its particular function towards the fulfillment of a specific goal is in the works. Once a task, a project, an initiative, or a mission is fulfilled satisfactorily a leader should already have a new configuration for that team in mind – looking towards the next project, the next objective, the next piece of an organization’s mission to be realized. A leader that performs with robustness of vision and action and takes the time to be deliberately flexible is engaged in good leadership, plain and simple. To do otherwise, as I have asserted previously, is sadly and simply lazy leadership.

It is extremely important that a leader establishes an environment of flexibility within their organization. It is important to note that teams should not be formed and reformed by surprise. Few things can be more dangerous to a stable work environment that leading an organization of people with the “bolt from the blue” factor. Instead, team staff should be coached to be willing and eager participants in the energy of flexibility that forms their work world. Team members must feel secure in the fact that they have been hired for their knowledge, skills, and expertise and for the fact that their unique qualities will be able to be applied to the many tasks and projects that are undertaken by the organization over time. Leaving one team and joining another, task by task, doesn’t mean leaving the organization or unemployment. It does mean an invigorating, challenging, growth environment that is satisfying and rewarding precisely because of the milieu of flexibility over that of a static and fixed atmosphere.

Expand the Resource Pool
A team should be regarded as a collective of assets that don’t belong wholly and completely to an organization. Rather, it is of significantly greater value to see a team as comprised of assets including full and part-time talented, skilled, and knowledgeable individuals, as well as resources that are cherry-picked from an infinitely inclusive basket of other talent to be drawn upon when necessary. This infinite resource supply may include that which is drawn from the world of academia, boots on the ground practitioners, the media, researchers, consultants of both broad and specific expertise, and of course the vast universe of the Internet. The point is that it is a wise leader who looks well beyond those human resources that are in their particular orbit. The more frequently a leader goes out of their familiar orbit, or extends their reach outside of their realm of familiarity, the greater the opportunities for creating an effective amalgamation of resources that are appropriate to addressing a particular mission-related challenge.

Once again, the team will need to be trained or coached to allow them to embrace the expansive viewpoint of a broad and deep resource supply that extends out beyond the original team membership. A leader needs to take great care not to threaten the existing team with the idea that outside resources can, or even should, replace them. Rather, learning to draw on the bountiful supply of external resources as part of the effective admixture of a team’s work is of great benefit not only to the organization but to the team and each of its individual members. This approach avoids the enervation that can often set in with static team compositions. Vitality is an important factor in team success, and static teams only serve to deplete the vigor and energy of the team members.

Now, here is a critical point: include the original team members (typically full or part-time staff that are ongoing employees of an organization) in the act of expanding the resource pool. Again, team members have hopefully been hired for their expertise, skill, and knowledge. Engaging them in the act of bringing in additional resources creates buy-in, acceptance, and ownership. The “threat factor” is subsequently reduced significantly.

Compose the New Team Deliberately
Some elements of the new team are prototypical. For example, most if not all teams require the leadership of a project leader and the support of content area experts. An organization’s leader may add to that mix in varying degrees of potency the functional personnel that bring strategic expertise, logistical ability, technology capability, evaluative or assessment competency, budget and fiscal responsibility, and marketing and public relations talent. Any number of other experts (such as linguists, health or medical professionals, disabilities specialists, and innumerable others) may be required to fulfill a particular mission or set of goals.

It is in the number of personnel that the composition of the “new” team may be strikingly different today than in the past. There is a great deal more opportunity to take advantage of in the highly skilled workforce of the 21st Century to both multi-task, and assign multiple responsibilities. For example, the project leader may also be the main source of strategic planning. The logistics coordinator may also serve as the marketing and public relations specialist. The director of evaluation and assessment may also serve as the fiscal authority. Of course it all depends on any given team of professionals. Clearly what is suggested here is that leaders of today should aspire to hire people in part for their multi-faceted abilities. The idea being to not allow talent in any given individual team member to lie dormant. Proficiency in a second language or in multiple areas of expertise is increasingly common. Experienced project directors in today’s work environments often have high levels of expertise in logistical and budget planning, projection, and analysis.

The “new” team may consist of as few as three or four individuals, but have the capability of serving six, seven, or eight distinct specialty areas. This use of personnel could certainly be seen as approaching exploitation; however it is the role of the leader to manage the work levels of their team and build a team of nearly equitable work responsibilities, where individuals may utilize the whole of their talents and skills. This approach can be significantly energizing to both the individual team members as well as the team as a whole.

Leading Teams to Change
An oft repeated refrain is “change is the only constant.” While that concept may cause discomfort and imbalance for some it is absolutely necessary to fully embrace the reality of change as being a constant in the world. This is where a leader’s role is crucially significant. If a leader is anxious or troubled by the idea of change, those around him or her are likely to adopt that same perspective. What changes? Everything! The social landscape, the work environment, the needs of an organization’s constituency, the economy, and team members themselves are changing day by day.

The key to success in rapidly changing environments is to engage in the change milieu with verve and anticipation of positive results. A leader would be wise to start team meetings with the question, “What has changed since we last met?” Undoubtedly that question will result in numerous responses, most of which will be related to the specific work tasks and environment of the team. That is a good start, but then a good leader should challenge their team to examine their “universe” more expansively. Questions such as: “What factors have changed about our constituency, audience, or client?,” “What resources have become available to us that weren’t available yesterday?,” “Has the mission or objective of our project shifted, however slightly?,” "What opportunities or threats have surfaced recently?," “Have our budgetary needs changed?,” “Who are some of the new players related to our project that we should be engaging?” and innumerable other questions related to exploring the change factor.

Addressing those change factors with your team is crucial to not only their comfort level around change but to the ultimate success of your team’s work. Facing change head-on will allow your team to engage their creative juices, plan approaches to address the change, and feel energized by the activity that is required to look at the change factors and be able to say, “We’re right there with you – maybe even a step ahead of you!” There is no place for lethargy in the organizations of today’s world. It is incumbent upon the leader to lead the way in addressing the constant of change, and to make it an exciting, vigorous, energizing endeavor. Looking back rarely does much good. The leaders of organizations operating in today’s extremely challenging environments must be change agents, and must coach their teams to be stimulated by change such that they raise their game to be excited by change and stimulated to higher levels of performance.

Provide Opportunities for Staff and Team Development
The act of learning never ever stops. Every waking moment holds the opportunity for growth and development in a myriad of ways. So, if learning is a given, the leader’s challenge is to focus and direct that learning for their team members. It is absolutely necessary to make professional development an important element of the work experience for every member of a team. Remember that I’ve written previously about the importance of each and every team member, whatever their relative status. The administrative assistant is as important to the team as the leader, and all members in-between. This very fact is why I chafe at the descriptors for team members too often used in the work environment: that of “junior staff” as opposed to “senior staff.” While it is true that there are varying levels of responsibility, decision making accountability, and authority, it is a much healthier work environment when every team member is valued and treated with respect. One way to value and respect team members is to allow them abundant opportunities for professional growth.

Engaging one’s staff in professional growth opportunities need not be expensively burdensome. While the occasional seminar, conference, or convention may serve a very useful purpose in the professional development of staff members, there are a number of other ways that training and professional growth opportunities may occur.

The first step is to individualize a team member’s need for specific training or professional growth opportunities. Too often, an entire team is required to sit through a “training” that isn’t specific enough to each individual’s needs or situation. It is true that some of these group trainings should be required for all, such as some related to the human resources arena. But beyond that growth opportunities should be individualized. How does that happen? First, it is important to have regularly scheduled meetings with each team member. In those “one-on-one” meetings a great deal can be discussed, and discovered, about an individual’s strengths, weaknesses, needs, and desires for professional growth. The job of the leader is to listen, then guide appropriately. In my experience, staff members know what they need to move forward and excel in their jobs. More infrequently they may need to be guided to that learning experience if they don’t recognize a deficit in themselves. But, again, if a leader or director/manager of a particular work group engages in conversations with individual team members frequently enough (I suggest once a week as a norm) the professional growth interests and needs will become apparent.

Once a leader has identified specific areas of need, action is required. There are a number of low cost ways that professional development action may be met. It may be as simple as suggesting an article, book, or web site to be read and explored; or a pairing of one staff member with another for the purpose of transferring skills and expertise; or engaging in coaching directly as a leader to a team member. Additionally, a short period of job exchange can invigorate and bring the opportunity for growth and a broader understanding of the organization’s various elements of work. Think about that almost limitless resource pool discussed earlier, and engage consultants, vendors, or content experts in an intern type situation, where your staff member spends a few hours or up to a day a week shadowing and working alongside a person who may provide the professional growth needed for a given staff member. Thinking expansively about professional development is wise, and the rewards are significant.

The leader’s job isn’t over – ever. Follow-up to training or professional development opportunities is a must. The weekly one-on-one meetings allow for ample opportunity to gauge the impact of training on individual staff members. Perhaps an adjustment will be required, or additional training will be an obvious need. But, in all cases where an effort has been made on the part of a team member to grow professionally, praise is not only warranted but an absolute must on the part of the leader. The idea, of course, is to reinforce the concept of growth and adaptability. When professional development is engaged in with a collaborative and supportive manner, individuals will thrive and become even greater assets to your organization and its ultimate success.

Serve as a Hands-on Team Champion
There is perhaps no greater act of selfless leadership than to be a hands-on champion for your team. The rewards of such action are almost rich beyond measure. Building trust, loyalty, willingness to go above and beyond basic requirements, and pride in the work of an organization is the job of a leader who is an engaged team champion. This is very different from days past when a remote leader could dole out tasks from a “head office” somewhere on an upper floor, today’s leader must be seen and must engage with their teams. An organization’s success is all about a spirit of “one for all and all for one” as trite as that may sound.

The role of team champion starts with simple everyday communications. Making an effort, no matter how busy one’s schedule to engage at least briefly each staff member (or work group if the organization is very large) is so vitally important. Remoteness doesn’t work, and any leader who sequesters him or herself in their office for days on end has no idea what kind of “talk” is going on among the staff. Frequently it will be of the “where’s the boss?” variety, which often leads to conversations that are decidedly negative in tone. So, engage! If the size of the organization only allows a group e-mail greeting each morning, that would be better than nothing, and would serve to let your team know that you are thinking of them and supporting their efforts.

Ratcheting up the team champion concept to the next level is a sign of a wise leader. What does the next level require? It is as simple and as complicated as diving into the work alongside your team, rolling up your sleeves (literally if needed) and supporting their work efforts. I think we’ve all been employees of leaders who bark orders and stand back somewhere while their “worker bees” hustle and bustle to get the work done. I suppose that is effective to a point; but it is leadership by coercion and fear. It is infinitely more effective to gather the team, explain a task, and speak in the collective of “we.” Then, demonstrate your support, if even for a short period of time due to other pressing obligations, by digging in with your team to accomplish a given task.

A wonderful example comes to mind here – and while I don’t wish to be political, it is the example set by President Barack Obama when he joins his wife and hundreds of military personnel in stuffing backpacks for children of the military serving overseas. Or, First Lady Michelle Obama, digging a garden plot on the White House lawn with several dozen school children. Neither one of them filled just one or two backpacks, or shoveled just the first clump of earth – they stayed and engaged for as long as they possibly could, demonstrating their interest and commitment to the success of the endeavors. Now, if the president and first lady can take the time to engage themselves in such a manner, surely the rest of us who serve as leaders can too.

One more very important point related to being a team champion must be mentioned. That is, giving credit where credit is due at every opportunity. I’ve written in previous segments about the fact that accolades accrue to a leader naturally, for everyone recognizes that it takes a good leader to create success. But, team members aren’t always accorded that same recognition. It is so very important to always recognize your team members publicly for the work they do and the accomplishments of their efforts. Avoid taking credit for the work of your team, rather pass it on to them – it is a simple act of generosity of spirit that will invigorate your team, allow them to enjoy the “fruits” of their labor, and will in turn pay significant dividends to the organization and its leader as well. I don’t believe a leader can say “thank you” too many times, as long as it is sincere and heartfelt. That is one of the essences of what I call “smart/heart Leadership.”