How can any team improve it's ability to work systematically?

Explore possibilities: Working systematically
The key to every high-performing team is its capacity to apply winning techniques to any challenge and learn from its experiences. In aspiring to high performance, it has to review the most successful approaches, as well as considering the key strengths of its members. In this way it can develop a 'formula' that can survive problem situations, minor personnel changes, and can be applied automatically whenever the team is under stress.

Mature, high performance teams work systematically. When they meet new challenges or difficult problems, they follow a structured approach rather discussing things chaotically. This is a learned behaviour, and many teams of people do not learn it naturally.

The major challenge with any team is to get everyone to accept that they need to change their approach. There are a variety of ways to do this. Team exercises and simulations may bring home to a team their failings. Discussion of classic success and disaster (!) case studies may work. Or, review of the team's historical performance may be enough to convince them they need to try something new.

It's useful to recommend a model that a team can practice with. There's a recommended one in our Guidebook here. Alternatively, look at a range of team process models in the frequently asked questions section. Ideally, allowing the team to use such a model with a simple management game, an exercise, will allow the team to start learning. It may take a series of different style tasks to generate full understanding. Then, trying out a more systematic approach with a real project will bed in the learning.

Case Studies: Systematic Working and Decision Making

With our help, a multinational organisation designed a training course which would be suitable for any of its international R&D project teams. It featured several simulations, simplified versions of real problems that the organsiation had encountered in the past. Teams were encouraged to use a recommended systematic method to address these problems, and come to consensus decisions.

The course was delivered in a variety of locations within the firm, and for many teams. Its effect was to build understanding about useful team tools, positive behaviours such as better listening, and importantly a common approach to problem-solving and decision-making, emphasising rational analysis rather than debate and assumption. The simulation could be altered to run with several sub-teams, occasionally mimicking the 'virtual team' environment of remote communication.