The Reasons Why Teams Fail
by Sharon Feltham, Excellerate
Frustrated by a lack of progress and results, organisation's will frequently despatch an underperforming team on a team building day with the expectation that they will return transformed. Problem solved. More often than not both the team and their organisation are disappointed.
The team returns to work on a high but once the initial "buzz" has worn off the same old problems reappear. There is little change in performance, results fail to materialise, cynicism and frustration return, worse than before.
Team building has its place and can be highly effective when used appropriately however, it is seldom the cure for the fundamental problems that plague many teams.
Significant improvements in team performance can be achieved more rapidly through carefully targetted interventions which eliminate (or reduce) the systemic barriers to a teams performance. Often these barriers have less to do with the team's "skill or will" and more to do with the team's design and the environment in which it operates.
This is clearly illustrated by the findings from a recent survey of Fortune 500 (and other companies) across a variety of industries. It identified primary factors that contribute to the failure of teams. These were classified as:
Internal Factors that exist within the team itself
External Factors present in the team's (organisational) environment
While some of these factors are related to specific team based skills (which can be improved through training or team building) the most significant are connected to the organisation and team design.
The lesson, if your team is struggling to gain traction on a project or is underperforming generally then before you send them on a team building or training event, identify if any of the factors listed below are present. Then assess their impact on the team.
Focus your efforts on eliminating external obstacles and improving the team's design (structure, systems and processes). You, your teams and your organisation will experience far greater and more enduring results.
Any training or team building you do invest in will then yield more substantial changes in successful behaviours. Why? Because the team returns "skillled and willed" to an environment that supports its performance.
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Top EXTERNAL Reasons Why Teams Fail
|
Percentage of Respondents
|
| Team members are often required to work on their "team" assignments in addition to a full workload. |
65%
|
| Management does not model the principles and behaviours that support teams in being successful. |
65%
|
| Compensation systems do not adequately reward teamwork and individual team members. |
49%
|
| Team leaders and/or managers do not release appropriate control to team members. |
45%
|
| Teams are not given adequate resources (e.g., money, time, human resources) to do the job. |
37%
|
| Changes in the organization cause frequent changes in team membership. |
29%
|
| Team members resist taking responsibility for tasks traditionally performed by management. |
28%
|
| Teams are not well chartered. |
28%
|
| Team assignments are not aligned or integrated with business strategies. |
20%
|
| Teams are given more work than they are capable of handling. |
12%
|
|
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Top INTERNAL Reasons Why Teams Fail
|
Percentage of Respondents
|
| Team members don't influence and get support from key external stakeholders |
50%
|
| Team members don't set appropriate goals for the team and then build and implement a plan for reaching them. |
48%
|
| Team members don't spend enough time planning how they will work together. |
42%
|
| Team members don't know how to reconcile differences or resolve interpersonal conflict. |
42%
|
| Teams don't conduct efficient meetings that produce results. |
40%
|
| Team members don't have compatible levels of problem-solving, analytic or project management skills. |
38%
|
| Team members don't make decisions effectively as a group. |
37%
|
| Team members don't know how to influence the work of other team members. |
35%
|
| Teams members don't have consistent or clear team leadership |
31%
|
Reference: Interaction Associates, "Previous Tips & Techniques, Why Teams Fail: The Greatest External Team Barriers to Success,"
and "The Greatest Internal Team Barriers to Success,"
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