 I
recently read an article regarding tinkering with
web sites. The author of the article was very
critical of many web sites and the "gurus"
that preach what a web site should look like.
Now you are probably wondering what this has to
do with teams. I found several similarities with
how we manage web sites to how we manage organizations
to how we manage teams. Here are some simple points
to consider before you tinker with your team.
* What is the goal of the team?
This is nothing new for me to talk about however
teams need a clear specific idea of their reason
for being. This needs to be discussed and refined.
*Cool doesn't mean it right thing to do
Every new and cool idea doesn't need to be immediately
implemented. The ideas need to be thought out
and analyzed. A "cool" idea that isn't
right for your team can be a costly endeavor.
*Measure the results of changes
If you don't measure the activities of the team
then you don't know if your team is effective.
The measures need to be able to show the before
and after affect of any changes. It should also
be noted that many changes require a period
of time for the changes to become natural. So
don't jump ship too quickly.
*Test your measures
Are you measuring the right things? For example,
if teamwork is important to your organization,
how are you holding people accountable to working
as a team? With one organization I was working
with, they changed their evaluation process
to put more weight on team skills than technical
skills.
The PDCA cycle (plan, do, check, act) as list
in many if not all the quality program, is similar
to the process that many scientist use in research.
It is also the cycle to use when ever you are
tinkering with a web site, organization, or
team.
By: Margie Thomas
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