When is a team not a team?
Precisely at the point when they fall back into old habits that were pre team… This can happen at any time and may only be for a day or three. However if your organisation is going through a crucial time at that point then you might expect standards to fade.

Preventing this is all part of your ongoing improvement. For organisations that have a standards rating relating to Total Quality Management they should be the first to react here. Their quality rating system would be under threat otherwise. They would recognise the situation and as part of the constant improvement process find ways to work with their staff to get effective results.
Far too often systems such as TQM have had only a short term effect and the team can fall back into old ways.

This has been shown throughout the USA when new methods are introduced to an old workplace, the results caused a great deal of resistance in many cases from the staff. Yet when they set up new facilities they found it was easy to get beyond previous production barriers in other plants due to the fresh approach that new facilities have, they do not have preset responses to the environment.

The same can be said of office environments, schools and the like rather than just factories. In time teams can work well however if they are surrounded by the same old dismal walls and surrounds, they can be stifled in their efforts to alter the situation to work more like a team and alter their psyche to do so.

If you want your team to focus on the task at hand and get the full benefits of a team approach consider how you will get fully honest feedback from them so that you know what to do next to make the work environment suit the team.

This approach can ensure that old habits can be altered in a fresh environment where the staff have been used to the older one. For some this can mean minor changes, for others a whole new start to the situation. Whichever way you go remember that your aim is to run a viable business, one that thrives, and not jut survives.

I have met many business people that will gladly tell me that a team based approach does not work. I would argue that in the set up phase of the team concept, that the business failed to be aware of the deeper implications of a team approach. As mentioned the physical surrounds, yet there are other factors that make a team not a team.

One of these is when people clash. For some reason the communication between your staff (perhaps just a few) has been lacking. Consider carefully how each group interacts and whom really needs to get along with who. This is vital if your team has to work together to maximise results. Even if your team is a group of tradesmen that happen to work together in an ad-hoc way most of the time. A little rivalry or jealously formed a few weeks back can soon be distorted to become a major drama.

For your teams to work together brilliantly consider these points.
Ask First… Do they really want to work as a team? Really, this is a big question, and who are you to thrust this upon what may be an unwilling group of individuals.

What changes will it make… Consider the benefits of the team structure, will formalising it really get the results you want? How will you measure the end product and what will it cost to get these changes?

What will it look like… To some this is a crazy question, yet an important one, your vision for the team needs to be shared so they can appreciate what you feel is a good idea and they can work to the same image as well.

Who will keep it going… It may be one thing to have a trainer develop some ideas around a team culture, but in time how will this be maintained, and what will happen when a member of the team moves on for some reason. Will your staff have the skills to slot a new team member into the role?

How will you start the process… Getting the idea to have a team culture is one thing but where do you start? Is training vital to this process? Will you be able to keep the momentum up, will the business handle the down time that the training produces?

I appreciate there are often more questions than there are answers, however this should give your business the ability to question fully the way that it will tackle the team issue so that your team can be like a fully functional one, not just a superficial one.