🚀 go-pugleaf

>the organisation where I work (15,000+ employees) is trying to introduce
teams into the work environment.

> I do not believe that
>teams can operate successfully without a commitment by the organisation
>to quality.
>--
>Clint Pheeney

It is not clear what type of teams you are trying to implement but here are
a few top of mind comments that I hope are helpful.

A highly teams based organization would likely have on-going (e.g.,.
business teams) and project oriented cross-functional teams (e.g., product
development teams) as well as self-directed work teams in certain
departments (e.g., manufacturing or customer service).

Extensive use of teams in an organization requires a participative
management style, empowerment with clear boundaries that are not violated
by management, and a fluid project oriented culture.

The above can be in place without a quality initiative although a quality
initiative certainly would have much of the above, if not all.

Military style organizations do have teams but they are tops down driven
and the team leader is quite directive.

I would suggest that your organization create a phased timeline (perhaps 5
phases) of the evolution to teams being specific about what types of teams
you are implementing.  For each type of team and each phase of the team's
evolution, identify what the teams would be responsible for (e.g.,
decisions, actions, outputs, deliverables), what support they will get to
be able to function at this level (e.g., training, facilitation, coaching,
assessment) and what support managers will get to let them and help them
function at this level (ditto).

In this way your organization can visualize, fund and manage the planned
and supported evolution of teams.

Then pilot efforts make sense to try these things out in narrow scope,
adjust and then deploy broadly to more teams.

Best of luck -









Neil Love
Certified Management Consultant

LBL Consulting, Inc.
Building Synergy in the Workplace
408-923-9292   408-923-8722 (Fax)
http://www.lblconsulting.com


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