This article first appeared in the May, 2003 edition of the Jacksonville Business Journal
Most leaders describe the group that reports to them as their team. Unfortunately, they are very likely to be a committee rather than a team. And the difference is profound!
Teams and Committees Defined
A team is a group of people who are committed to a common goal, work together, and help each other. "One for all and all for one" is the guiding principle. The measure of success is team success. Individual goals are secondary. Everyone knows that if the team goal is not achieved, individual goals are meaningless.
A committee may look the same. It is a group of people who come together with the purpose of achieving a common goal. But that is the end of the similarity. The members of the committee do not place the common goal above their personal goals. Each committee member's primary role is to represent his constituency - the people who sent him. He may want to achieve the common goal - if it is in the best interests of his group. His underlying theme is "Get as much as you can, give up as little as you must, and represent our interests well."
Which one do you have? The behaviors are pretty clear. In a team, everyone is focused on the common goal. In a committee, everyone is focused on what the goal means to their group. In a team, everyone is authorized and empowered to make decisions. In a committee, everyone needs to "check back" before they are able to commit. In a team, decisions are made by consensus, based on the best solution. In a committee, decisions are made through compromise, and usually require a vote. Teams focus on finding the best solution. Committees develop compromises that satisfy their individual groups.
Teams and Committees At Work
Let's take a look at a few examples and the difference in results.
You are developing your budget. A team begins with an understanding of the budget requirement. Then the team analyzes the strategic initiatives and collectively decides how to allocate resources to support them. The remainder of the budget is allocated to individual requirements. Everyone understands that the goal is reached when the budget is established within limits, all major initiatives are supported, and all team members have the resources they need to fulfill their individual responsibilities.
Let's look at this same process by committee. The overall budget is announced. Everyone works individually to prepare his own component and submits it to the leader. The total, of course, far exceeds the limit. Everyone then proceeds into negotiations, until a final allocation is made that meets the overall target.
The committee approach has two fundamental flaws. First, the company-wide strategic initiatives are ignored. Everyone is protecting his own turf and no one is looking out for the whole. Second, everyone will now be committed only to his own piece of the budget. There is no commitment to the overall organizational budget.
Let's look at another example. For many years I served on the "Product Release Team" for a high tech company. Our goal was to ensure all products were ready and released to the market by an established schedule. But we were always abut nine months late... for a simple reason. Each of us had strict orders from our bosses not to approve a release until we were absolutely sure that our area was fully prepared to support the release. As a good committee representative, my goal was first to make sure that our group was prepared, and second to release the product on time. If the product was late, so be it.
The problem was resolved in a single conversation. The president came to all of us one day and said: "Let's be clear about your goal. If this product is not released on time, none of you will be working here the next day." That certainly changed our focus. The common goal was now clearly more important than our individual goals, and products - magically - began to be released on time.
Turning Your Committee Into a Team
How do you turn a committee into a team? It's simple if you follow a few rules. First, make sure that there is a common team goal and that everyone is committed to it. Second, ensure that everyone on the team is authorized and empowered to decide and act at the team meeting - without having to "check back in" - with their respective groups. Third, have the team work together as a team - develop the budget, set the strategy, design the new work method. Collective work creates collective ownership. Fourth, hold everyone on the team responsible and accountable for the team goals and results, as well as their own individual areas of responsibility.
Common goals, authority and empowerment, collective work, and shared accountability are the building blocks that turn a committee into a real team. The performance difference can be remarkable!
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