Sometimes a picture says more than words. When Dr. Prasad
started discussing this picture in class, we had little idea that we can learn
this much from this picture. We also simulated this activity in classroom. It
was a funfilled exercise full of insights.
Organisations are made of Teams. Good Teamwork is essential
for high performance in any business.
“Talent wins
games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” – Michael Jordan
Having a talented individual can produce results only partly. For
a complete solution/success, we need strong teams. That is why Organisations
prefer a Team worker to an individual contributor with no team spirit even if
the latter one is much more talented. Even if one person is so capable that he
can perform all the tasks individually, an Organisation should not let him, because
it will reduce reliability, flexibility and sustainability. There may be cases
when that particular person is unavailable, simulated by hanging man in valley
crossing exercise. Suddenly there may be some huge workload (two person
carrying weight of pole and 3rd person) or a new work may come where
the same person may not be competent enough.
Here, as we see in valley crossing exercise, 3 people have to
cross a valley. It is wide enough that they can’t jump to other side. So, they
form a Team. They get connected with the help of a pole (metaphor for an
organisation). In the end, they are able to cross the valley. It looks simple,
but it is not. When we started doing this activity in real, it needed a lot of
iterations to complete it successfully. Let me list out the ingredients
required for successful completion of this task. These are the same things
required for a good team work.
Planning: - Suppose, we are 3 people. We are provided with a pole and
we need to cross the valley. Our 1st step will be to form a Team and
formulate the plan. The plan should be focused on how we can leverage our
strength as a team. Though, we have already seen the picture, plan was
already out.
Proper communication: - Communication is very important both in
Planning and executing period. Everybody needs to understand their role clearly.
There should be a smooth flow of communication even at the time of executing
task. As, we saw during activity, assuming the solution to be simple, people
didn’t allocate proper time to understand their role clearly. It resulted in
bad co-ordination. One person moved one step ahead while other person stood at
same place. People were hanging on pole in wrong sequence or at wrong time.
Though, Task was finally completed with the help of proper communication at the
execution time. There may be possibility that while formulating the plan people
are not 100% clear about their role, though they think so. Effective initial
communication can avoid this situation and proper communication during task
performance will ensure a successful task even if there was some gap at 1st
stage.
Responsibility: - Everybody in Team needs to be accountable.
Suppose, if one person either in front or back leaves the pole while 2nd
person is hanging in middle, both 2nd and 3rd person will
not be able to cross the valley.
Trust: - As a Team member, we need to trust other team members. In
the valley crossing exercise, if all three people do not trust each other,
nobody will get ready to hang on pole in the valley with their life at stake.
Trust is build over time and as a manager we must ensure to create an
environment where one team member can trust other.
Coordination :- Coordination is the important factor in making the crossing successful. Every team member need to be equidistant. They must move step at same time. They also need to cover equal length in every step. They must be aware of timing when they need to put extra effort, also the amount of extra effort required. For good coordination,Team need to do proper planning, have good communication,take responsibility and trust each other.
