To team or not to team...that's not the question...

These days, there seems to be quite a bit of debate about the effectiveness of teamwork, but to me it appears that most people aren't asking the right questions...

I read an article in the New York Times the other day with some pretty strong statements about teamwork and groupthink (two of my favorite topics). What struck me most about it was that there was no clear definition of why these teams were formed.  The author made a lot of statements about how some people are more effective as lone contributors (i.e. Steve Wozniak from Apple as the quintessential example) and the comments section was full of testimonials from people who clearly felt uncomfortable working in the group settings they'd been exposed to.

My take on all this is that whomever was forming these groups and group-oriented environments wasn't paying enough attention to the style of work at hand, individual strengths and the type of situations where groups can be effective.

Below is my personal list of group-manager-oriented pet peeves.  If I were to touch upon each of these topics in this blog post, it would get longer than either of us has the patience for.  However, I think there are quite a lot of interesting things to say on each of these topics, so I'll be using this as a general guideline to dig deeper into each of these in upcoming posts.

• Not being clear on meeting purpose and objective.  Oh how I've seen this...let me count the ways... (this one's gonna be hard to write without turning into a rant)
• Including too many people in meetings.  So often I hear invalid "valid reasons" for this.  To keep someone in the loop.  Just in case xyz question/topic comes up.  And many others.  I call shenanigans...
• Not specifying clear group-project roles. Even on the best of teams, if it's not clear to everyone who's leading, if someone is responsible for note-taking, if someone has the role of "devil's advocate", if someone is supposed to represent a specific interest, if someone has a particular subject matter expertise, etc. things will not go as well as they might otherwise...
• Not allowing various roles to participate differently.  If the meeting objective is clearly defined, then it should help guide what roles are needed, and equally importantly, not needed.  As a corollary to this, not everyone may need to be there for the whole meeting, or contribute in the same manner.
• Not acting strategically regarding the social dynamics best suited to achieving the purpose.  This speaks volumes directly about the issues mentioned in the groupthink article.  There are so many dynamic and interesting ways to manage this, that have nothing to do with "is teamwork inherently good or bad".
• Confusing "team building" with "rapport building."  How often have you seen a corporate retreat style exercise that's meant to build some sort of "working together as a team" skill?   How often does this actually get applied in a focused manner to people who really need to coordinate their input/output efforts that closely?  I say call a spade a spade, and focus on a different set of social dynamics that are often sorely needed - "rapport building."
• Not effectively moderating, focusing and setting rules/guidelines for meeting dynamics.  Brainstorming and creative thinking does not equal no boundaries and chaos.  In fact, it's been proven by my friend, Science, that a clearly defined problem space and compelling boundaries fosters creative problem solving efforts.
• Not providing free pizza.  I should never be expected to think on an empty stomach!  Mozzarella = excellence.

What other ineffective dynamics have you seen?

Balancing...it's all an act.

The new year often brings thoughts of improvement, balance and re-evaluating life.  Why is it so easy to lose momentum on these things throughout the rest of the year?

I've been thinking about balance lately and have come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a "system" or "technique" to achieve it.  Our lives are complex systems with innumerable variables which are constantly in flux.  The idea that there could be some sort of stasis called "balance" amongst all of this seems unnatural.  The more I've learned about complex systems, the more I see this reinforced.  So, what's the alternative then?


For me, balance brings to mind the image of a tightrope walker.  Let's go with that...  If you dig deeply into what's going on there are immeasurable variables.  Rope tension, pole rigidity, the walker's energy level, what they've eaten, air turbulence, breathing rate, temperatures, thoughts, and possibly attempting to juggle at the same time (really dude? showoff...)...on and on...  So, this set of actions to achieve a goal - to make it across a tightrope - is comprised of a set of infinitely complex variables.

As you start to extrapolate that across all the various aspects of our lives it's a wonder any of us manages to figure out how to do anything!  And yet...we do.

How do we do it?

• By keeping our eye on bigger picture goals
• By maintaining a high level of awareness of ourselves and outside influences
• By learning and practicing the relevant skills

 How do we fail to do it?

• By losing focus on what we're trying to achieve
• By being lured into tension relieving, short term actions

My fake New Years Resolutions (I really didn't make any except to continue doing my part to keep the champagne industry in business...):

• Learn to sit with tension until I understand its source
• Pause more often to think about other people's motivations, view points and feelings
• Give thought to understanding my resistance to actions (especially running...ugh, I still hate it...but I know why and I've found ways to overcome that feeling and get out there)
• Acknowledge and embrace the things (which aren't necessarily tangible "things") that make me happy and attempt to foster more of them in my life, especially by letting go of not-so-happy-making things to make room.
• Don't try to fill up every waking moment with stuff to do.

 Doing less, slowing down, becoming more focused and increasing awareness...there ya go.

As an aside, the blogging 15 minutes a day thing is working GREAT!!!  I genuinely look forward to it, leave wanting more and sometimes use those 15 minutes for research or strategizing blog topics.  If I get off track or miss a day, it's so much easier to jump back in knowing I only have to sit down for 15 minutes to start again.  Seriously - try it if you have a habit you've been trying to reinforce.  I'd love to hear if it works for you!