Six Common Weaknesses With Teams

REFLECTION: FOR STUDENTS: “If two men on the same job agree all the time, then one is useless. If they disagree all the time, both are useless.” —Darryl F. Zanuck

FOR ACADEMICS: “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” —Henry David Thoreau

FOR PROFESSIONALS/PRACTITIONERS: “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” —John D. Rockefeller

Foundation

Teams and teamwork are much more a part of Quality and general business culture than a generation ago. The lone wolf “I’ve got this” type is almost extinct- but they are still highly useful due to being productive and often individually creative. I will not make this discussion about individual vs. team performance. The focus of this post will be to highlight some of the common failings in team dynamics (internal and external forces included), to help raise awareness. Too often, a team has become a “magic wand” used to fix a problem, and the team leader may have to drag a lot of that weight if the team does not properly understand how each moving part has to function for full success. When each part of the team has full accountability, the members are much more invested, and the team overall improved.

Team Weaknesses

1. Team goals can become misaligned with the goals of the organization
2. When teams and/or their decisions are not accepted and supported by management, the efforts of the team are wasted
3. Time is needed to build and maintain high-performance teams
4. Decision making is typically slower using a team because of the time it takes to make a decision by consensus
5. Teams can also create negative synergy, where time is wasted simply because of the effort it takes to work with other people, or because teams get distracted with off-task activities, including social interactions
6. Teams can be impacted by “group think”, in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the team results in lack of diversity of thought, shutting down of alternative points of view, and dysfunctional decision making

(WestFall, 2016)

Discussion

The first weakness (more often known as lack of strategic alignment) can make the team feel like they are accomplishing something, only to be informed mid-project or post-project that the overarching organization has a different goal. I would not count that so much as a team weakness, but more as a common communication failure between Management and teams.

Lack of Top Management support is a severe moral dampener to any team. Even if a team is successful despite lack of support, Implementation may not occur when Management offers no support.

Time is money, and because it takes time to build a good team, it drains financial resources. The time required to be dedicated to maintaining teams often pulls focus from day-to-day activities. Tasks required by Teams for special operations should never overwhelm the day to day work of standard operations.

Team Decision Making- Most teams have hit the wall of being unable to reach a consensus. This natural weakness can be overcome by using techniques like multivoting or Nominal Group Technique especially with a facilitator.

Negative Synergy is a common issue and can be well addressed with team self-discipline, a diligent and attentive facilitator, or a combination of both as required.

“Group Think” is one of the worst enemies of effective teams. No member of the team should fear to put forth a dissenting opinion. When a team is open to being questioned, the team is actively practicing critical thinking. One of the ways teams can avoid the phenomenon of “Group Think” is by creating ground rules that require objective data to be presented to make a decision. I would caution, though, that statistics can be twisted to look pleasing to your personal view, so each team member should be just as responsible for confirming the stats on their own after a presentation.

Conclusion

Potential team weaknesses should be considered when evaluating Project Risks. The ability to mitigate those risks as a team will help the team be a more cohesive unit.

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Bibliography

WestFall, L. (2016). The Certified Software Quality Engineer Handbook 2nd Edition. Milwaukee, WI: ASQ Quality Press.