The Sixth Sense Solution

June 2009

High Performance Team Development 101

The Issue- Silos in Teams:

In our work with business teams, we often run into situations where leaders tell us that rather than working as a unified team, their organization operates in silos. In other words, smaller teams (or factions) form that not only do not work well together, but sometimes work at cross-purposes to each other. Of course, this can increase tension and frustration with a resulting reduction of morale and productivity.

Our Sixth Sense:

So what's really going on under the surface?  Well, there can be a number of reasons for the formation of silos.  One reason is that the team forms without a unifying objective or purpose to unite around. This seems like an obvious element of a team but can be missed in the haste of forming the team and starting the work.

What You Can Do as a Leader:

Step 1: Ask each member of the team to privately write down what they believe to be the goal or purpose of the team.

Step 2: Collect all the answers and read them out. If it seems that all the answers are aligned then there may be another issue at play. If the answers are notably different, then you will have determined that this team lacks a unifying goal.

Step 3: As a leader, your role is to provide this unifying goal, to paint a picture
of what success looks like and get the team engaged behind this.

"A team without a goal is like a ship without a destination.  there is plenty of ocean for the team to figureatively sail around on and yet never get anywhere." - anonymous