There’s nothing inherently wrong with a group. People naturally gather, even extreme introverts such as me get together with others at times.
A group can generally do more than an individual. Some things even require a group, such as sports.
Eventually, something happens though. For some things, a group isn’t enough. A group will reach limits. It will run into obstacles outside the abilities of a simple group. For highly complex situations something more is needed. The group needs to change, it needs to become a team.
Often the only thing that binds us to others at our job is having been hired at the same company. There are exceptions all over, some people work with family and some got jobs with friends. These are less common though, and even when someone gets a job with a friend or family member they generally find themselves surrounded by people they do not know.
Regardless of your hiring process, this means that at their heart people working together are nothing more than a group. None of us like to think of it that way though. We always think of our co-workers as part of our team. In fact, at Target everyone is considered a “Team Member” as opposed to an employee. Recruitment all over espouses the benefits of joining the team at company x.
How do you know if your group of employees is a team?
According to Merriam-Webster a team is “a number of people associated together in work or activity.” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/team) By the book, a group turns into a team much more quickly than I suggest above.
However, consider a collection of people who gather every day. They each do a task that, when combined, outputs a single product. They do not talk to each other. Not one of them pays any heed to what another does. When they aren’t gathered in that space, they have nothing to do with each other and don’t even cross each other’s minds.
By the book, that’s a team. In my mind, they aren’t.
Agile practices promote the idea of creating high-performing teams. I’ve always felt the operative term here is “team” no “high-performing.” The next question is, how do you determine if you have a team or a group?
I contend a team not only has a common goal but that they also constantly strive to improve on achieving it – together. A team knows their whole lives affect their time together, and they strive to make their time working towards a goal better by connecting outside of that time.
If your team punches the clock and checks out, it may not be a team after all. You need to engage them, get them excited for what they’re doing together, and get them interested in working together. This can be as simple as hosting a quarterly game day. Let them spend half of a Friday every few months playing group games together instead of working. It can also be as elaborate as booking a group vacation for them, dropping them into a wilderness retreat for a week where they can get to know each other better. They come back with a shared experience that helps them relate to each other, and eases the tension on working together.
Wherever your team is on the spectrum of a group to a high-performing team a coach can help bring them to the next level. A coach from outside the organization can see things the organization has become blind to, garner trust the people may not have in the organization, and provide relevant experience from other environments. They can help a group discover what’s causing them to hold back from each other, even if they don’t yet realize they’re holding back. They can help a team realize a rut they’re in and provide ideas of alternates to break out of it. They can help a high-performing team communicate better with the rest of the organization.
I am available to help you and your team move forward and bring more value to the organization, the customer, and each other. Book a call and let’s chat about what’s next.
When people gather it’s called a group. You might see a group of people at the park, in the mall, or in an office building.
Who are You Taking to Work? | Our Agile Journey
January 9, 2024 @ 1:27 pm
[…] We’ve talked about this before. Turning a group into a team takes more than just giving them an activity together though. Each person in the group needs to be willing. More importantly, they need to feel safe enough to bring themselves to work. […]