Joe's Jottings
Jottings Number 49, Reply A, by Bob Hamilton
Date: Mon, 12 Feb 96 16:15:48 -0800
Thanks for Jotting #49, terrific as always. I read the *Fortune* article over the weekend, and it got me thinking about something I've felt strongly about for several years. To lapse into philosophy for a moment... Cage bars are only a problem if the cage is locked. One key concept in team building is that members of a given team need to fit into the team. If they don't fit, they'll feel caged, and the team won't work as it's supposed to. On the other hand, when a given player moves to another team for which he/she' a better fit, then the cage isn't a prison, it's a home. That's a win. I had my nose rubbed in this recently when I moved out of CMIS and into Labs. Suddenly, I fit, and the difference is total. Philosophy mode off. Soapbox mode on. One unspoken thought that runs through all these team-building discussions is that team building is an expensive process. A company invests considerable resource in forming a working team. So a working team is an asset of considerable value, and the value is destroyed if the team is broken up. Sometimes this destruction of value is necessary, as when there is no profitable use for a team, but usually it isn't necessary to break up a working team -- just re-direct it. Most of the functional teams (as opposed to dysfunctional ones) I've been part of were general problem- solving entities; give us a problem and stand back. It didn't really matter what the problem was, we would apply our complementary skills to solving it and succeed, often brilliantly. And yes, it took time toil and tears to form those teams in the first place. It distresses me to see HP invest so much in forming teams, and then throw it away, over and over again. Particularly when so many of the "teams" I see these days are dysfunctional, soaking up time and money and yielding too little in return, if a working team comes along, it should be cherished and nurtured. Good teams can be broken up by unavoidable factors, key players leave, the environment changes.... It seems wasteful to break them up un- necessarily, even capriciously. Soapbox mode off. Regards, --Bob Hamilton