Team Building: Getting Highly Competent Individuals to Work Together

(21805) Ram Charan says:

An important part of know-how is being able to get high-energy and competent people to commit to the total business rather than just their own careers. Building a high-performing team is a tremendous opportunity to enhance the business and propel it forward.

Cooperation Is Essential to Team Building

Once you’ve taken the time and effort to recruit smart and competent people, the next challenge is to mold these people into a team who synchronize their work in such a way that will propel the business forward. The natural tendency is for each person to focus on their own specialty, but if you plan on achieving something of note, you need to get everyone pulling in the same direction. Quite simply, this is the only way to generate the synergy that comes when high-performing individuals build something together.

To mold a great team of leaders who work together well:

Shape a common view of your business–by sharing all of the data you have available. Get everyone on the same page by letting them master the basics of the business factually and accurately. It’s not until the entire team knows everything you do that they can truly add some value. Get everyone up to speed by ensuring they know your company’s marketplace realities, challenges and resources in fine detail.

Confront directly any behaviors that dilute the team’s effectiveness–something that will take courage. Many people try to avoid or gloss over conflict or hope the problem will resolve itself eventually. That’s a waste of time. Whenever someone does something that dilutes the team’s effectiveness, you need to have the inner courage to confront them directly, tell them that is unacceptable and ask them to change.

Bring to the surface and resolve any conflicts–before they have a chance to cause delays or problems. By anticipating and then resolving conflicts early on, you avoid the possibility of them becoming personalized. You should expect conflicts to come in three general flavors or themes: