• A good team has unity in diversity because each member respects and admires others for the unique talents they possess. When they lack that, the team fails - Madhavan Gopalachary
In all types of organizations, the activities are based on teams and team work. The members are selected, formed into a group and then called as a team. But a hastily formed group is not a well knit and cohesive team. The group members may be individually knowledgeable; possessing various skills sets, talents and attitudes but may not gel together as a team. After a team is formed, HRD gets into the act of training them to gel together. However, team working is not team building. Many do not understand the difference and get them mixed up. Team building is the work of team leaders. Team working is for everyone in the team with clear demarcation and delineation of roles. The basic objective of most HR Departments is to broaden the skill sets of the individual team members and individual talent is often ignored. The entire focus is on maintaining a collective unity of purpose. However, what happens is that the entire process is oriented towards killing individual brilliance and thereby collective team excellence.
The oft quoted maxim is that the sum is more important than individual parts. The earliest research on this maxim was done by a French agricultural engineer, Max Ringelmann in 1890, in an agricultural engineering training institute. He asked his students to pull a rope attached to a dynamometer and an average student could pull 85 Kgs. He then asked a group of 7 students to pull together. The group averaged 450 Kgs. He repeatedly found that the groups were pulling at 75 % of their capacity. Subsequently, a number of research and experiments were done in many other areas and all found that the group average was lower than the best individual's contribution. Psychologists termed this phenomenon as "Social Loafing". It is found that when a group of individuals came together, everyone expects the other to put in the maximum or extra efforts and their own contribution is reduced. The whole is not greater than the expected sum of individual parts, in such cases. Social loafing is more prevalent amongst many teams than perceived to be and not many are aware of it.
A chain is as good as its weakest link. To fix this, organizations try to build skill sets by forcing and rotating people to learn different roles. All types of financial and non financial incentives are offered to team members to learn new roles and acquire new skill sets. After undergoing one or two training and development programs, people are deemed to be experts. People can become experts by constant practice only. Every individual is supposed to focus on team goals which may not be congruent with his or her own. Camaraderie and team spirit are stressed as corner stones for success. Though it is a laudable concept, when this rule is applied at workplace, it often turns the talented members into non performers, because good talent needs recognition and cannot be treated as one amongst many. Good Managers who are leaders will not waste their time and accept this social loafing. They will soon start playing favorites because the principle of fairness brings in mediocrity and poor performance. When you are a leader, it is your head that is on the chopping block for poor performance and the buck stops with you. You have to be decisive and face the consequences, whether good or bad based on the quality of your judgment.
Soccer Teams like Arsenal or Manchester United or Chelsea or Bayern Munich or Juventus or Real Madrid and the likes do not pay the same amounts to all the star players. All the players are talented and skilled but some are a special breed apart and get paid a fortune. A good team has unity in diversity because each member respects and admires others for the unique talents they possess. When they lack that, the team fails. In team sports and games, the coaches will always focus on individual brilliance. Comparatively less talented players will be having peripheral or less important roles. Coaches will form teams where each individual excels in his or her role. They will not expect one specialist in one area to substitute a specialist in another area. They very rarely rotate roles. They instinctively know that great talent cannot be replaced easily. KSA can always be substituted. They may have a limited supply of talented all-rounders for emergencies, but generally like to have specialists for each role. At the same time, coaches know that even the best of the super stars will fail, occasionally. They will then go by the law of averages. Coaches literally stand on a razors edge. They have to deliver results at all costs. We should apply the same ruling to business leadership.
The process of selection should take individual talents, skills, strengths and weaknesses and form a set of complimentary skills and talents in the members. If one member is weak in one area, another member should be strong in that specific area. A perfect match may not be possible but people in teams should have complimentary skills, as far as possible. Selection of team members is the most crucial and critical aspect in team building. Each member must know his own strengths and weaknesses as well as other member’s strengths and weaknesses. As a manager, you must ask each member of your team to state his own strengths and weaknesses. Any person who does not know his own strengths and weaknesses does not deserve a place in any team.
While KSA is important, it is not the end all. Individual talents well utilized, ultimately decide the success or failure of teams. A leader must know what talents are required in the team members and select them accordingly. If teams fail, it is because the members have not been selected properly for the right talent and fit. Many teams fail simply because the managements are trying too hard to change attitudes in people, teaching them new skill sets, imparting knowledge, when they should be focusing on how to use the talents to the organizational advantage. It is not they are doing any wrong by doing that. The most common and costly mistake is ignoring talent, which is scarce. Good managers know instinctively how to spot and effectively use the available talent. Talent is a very valuable resource not to be ignored or squandered away.
Good and successful managers instinctively know how to spot and effectively use the available talent, ignore weaknesses and focus on strengths in people. As against this most average managers will ignore talent, focus on weaknesses and try to build new skill sets in people who may not be interested or have a non talent for learning the subject concerned. A non talent in an area which does not affect the performance of a person at the workplace does not matter at all. The moral of the story is that organizations must focus on available talent and make them acquire new skill sets in which they have natural aptitudes. One can never make a domestic cat perform like a tiger, but at the same time both have their usefulness in the respective places.
© Copyright, Written on April 3, 2008. Without prejudice. All rights reserved
To learn more about this author, visit Madhavan T Gopalachary's Website.
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Madhavan T Gopalachary
(Visit Madhavan's Website)
Madhavan Gopalachary, nick name "madgopes"
(g pronounced as in go) given by IIT
classmates, is a Mechanical Engineer and
an alumnus of Indian Institute of
Technology, Madras having passed out
specializing in IC Engines &
Thermodynamics.
He has nearly 35 years of experience in
the Corporate World. He started off as a
trainee and handled sales, marketing,
manufacturing, product management, profit
center management, strategic planning and
corporate development including R & D in
various organizations and at various
levels before becoming a CEO. His last two
professional assignments were at CEO level
before embarking to start management
consultancy business on January 01, 1998.
He has worked for British, Swedish MNCs as
well as very large Indian business houses.
He has spent a large portion of his time
from June 1998 till date in East African
Countries practicing as an independent
Management Consultant.
More details can be obtained at the
following web sites:
mmg.name/
mtg.html
mmgconsu
lting.biz/
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