I am beginning to think that the whole concept of teams is passé.  Don’t get me wrong.  I think that my work with team building will be around for the rest of my career and will remain a major source of my income.  However, that said, as I focus more on collaboration I am beginning to wonder if the way we look at working groups is archaic for the new world of work.

What brought me to this conclusion?  It was a number of factors.  As I was writing this series on the basic principles for high performing teams, I kept asking myself:  “Surely, this must have changed over the past 20 years that I have been doing this stuff.”  While I was watching the “crowd behaviour” of all of us who were unable to get home due to the volcanic ash across Europe, I noticed how the people were acting with all the principles of effective teams but without the typical common “factors”.   I began to muse . . . could people perform and interact in a productive and collaborative manner without being a team?  My answer is “yes”.  The sports model is no longer adequate.  There is an inherent assumption that for a team to “win” someone has to loose.  We need collaborative models that build upon win-win solutions and the idea of teams no longer works.

Using old terminology to describe the new way people are working together is limiting.  I am also concerned about “creating” new words or descriptions that end up hijacked into jargon.  The perfect example is motivation became empowered which has now become enabled. Unfortunately, to date, I do not have any language that seems to make sense to me.  Perhaps communities is a beginning.  What language to you find yourself using?

This is the last in this series on the Basic Principles for High Performing Teams.  You can find previous posts here:

1. Team Building? You don’t even have a group!
2. Creating Healthy and Productive Teams
3. Who Needs a Team Charter? (Clarity of Purpose)
4. Team Commitment – Creating Trust and Confidence
5. Team Task Skills: Learning how to be the best at your game
6. Team Climate – Are you running hot or cold?
7. Team Process Skills – Tell me true
8. What does it mean to be a “good” team member?

It is also the last in my “rethinking” series based on my being stranded due to the volcanic ash:

1. Rethinking The Stories We Tell Ourselves
2. Rethinking Engagement
3. Rethinking Collaboration
4. Rethinking Leadership

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