The Care and Management of a Team
Last week in class we discussed groups and teams. Lencioni believes that trust is the first step to having a great team. I agree with him. Trust is the basis for any relationship, and it is no different in business proceedings. Trust leads to respect for other team members and solidarity behind a team’s ambitions. Organizing employees in teams is an effective way to manage a business, and I will certainly consider the teambuilding exercises when I enter the workforce.
Comments
Posted by: Tom Heck
Posted on: October 9, 2006 02:56 PM
I recently attended a workshop based on Stephen M.R. Covey's book "The Speed of Trust". In the workshop he describes the idea of a "Trust Tax" and you can see the application in the following equation:
Strategy x Execution = Results
That's what life should be like. The reality is more like this:
Strategy x Execution = Results - Trust Tax = Actual
Here's what people often believe what's going on:
Strategy (as in your team has a great strategy measuring 10 on a scale form 1 to 10) x Execution (as in your team has perfect execution, so good it measures 10 on a scale from 1 to 10). This would be depicted as:
10 (Strategy) x 10 (Execution) = 100
THE REALITY is much different if trust is low on the team (which it usually is)...
10 (Strategy) x 10 (Execution) = 100 - 40% "Trust Tax" = 60
Most teams focus their energies on building better Strategy and Execution in order to improve / increase the Result. This, according to Covey, is a mistake. The team should focus on increasing (improving / building) trust so as to minimize the "Trust Tax". Back to the example...
10 (Strategy) x 10 (Execution) = 100 - 10% "Trust Tax" = 90
In the above example the Strategy and Execution remained the same AND YET the final result improved all because the "Trust Tax" was reduced.
Posted by: Mridu Kapil
Posted on: October 13, 2006 11:51 AM
I agree with your comment on trust. I also believe that trust is the first step in formulating a great team. The team has to be able to work jointly and have a certain sense of togetherness before they can tackle any project. After every meeting, the team should feel as though they can count on their team members in completing certain tasks which were assigned to each individual. Having trust is the base to every successful team.