The Discipline of Teams

Katzenbach, J. R., & Smith, D. K. (1993, March-April). The Discipline of Teams. Harvard Business Review, 111-120.

Summary

Every company faces specific performance challenges for which teams are the best option for achieving results. What is important is building the kinds of teams that can deliver the results. Teams must be deployed strategically and have the discipline to be effective. If this is done well, an environment is created that enables team as well as individual and organizational performance.

Experience

This is one of the classic views on teams. One that I and most of my colleagues have been brought up to believe. However, one concept stuck with me and made me realize how much my organization might benefit from doing more of this when we form teams. As the article puts it, “Select members for skill and skill potential, not personality.”

What we tend to do at work is put people on teams that are interested in the subject matter or put them on teams because they have the bandwidth. It would be extremely refreshing to do a skills assessment for a project up front with the project originator or sponsor before assigning team members to the teams. If we focused on having the skill or the potential to have the skill necessary for the team, we would be more likely to make quicker progress on the projects we work on and not have to look outside the team as often to get what we need to move forward.

KEYWORDS: Team, working group, skill potential