Why technology strangles teamwork

Author: Kevan Hall

Even great teams slow down when team members are in different locations and work together mainly through conference calls and other communication technology.

It is hard to have a real interactive discussion on a conference call, and interaction is the essence of team working.

In a typical conference call of 12 people, you should expect to sit in silence for 55 minutes per hour and only talk for 5 – and this is not teamwork. Participants in these calls are bored, frustrated, and over 50% of the time they are doing something else – usually emails, other work or surfing the web.

The reality is that these calls become a series of monologues with the same people dominating the talking time and less than 25% of the people actually listening.

The problem is not the technology. In our survey of 1,500 people working worldwide in remote and virtual teams, only 11% thought they used the technology itself ineffectively.

“Developments in the way people work together have not kept pace with the technology. There is far too much cooperation going on,” says Kevan Hall, author of Speed Lead – Faster, simpler ways to manage people, projects and teams in complex companies, “In a typical team of 12 people where everyone needs to cooperate with everyone else there are 66 possible connections between the team members.

As people are typically members of 4 or more teams, maintaining all of these connections becomes impossible. We have to adapt the way we cooperate to these new realities.”

Teams are a tool, not a value

Teamwork is one of the great traditional management sacred cows. 58% of the 70 corporate value statements we found on company websites include “teamwork”.

“Since when did teamwork become a value?” asks Hall “Teams are just a tool, not a value or an article of faith. What we do know is that teamwork is an expensive and inefficient tool for getting things done in complex, multi-site companies.”

Even high caliber, well trained people find it hard to overcome the simple constraints imposed by working through technology, it is not about ability; it is about interaction.

Traditional team skills can make it worse

Companies who invest heavily in old fashioned team building techniques despite major changes in the way people actually work today may be investing in the very skills that slow people down.

It’s time to break decades of “team conditioning” and focus on less structured group and individual ways of working which provide clearer accountability, faster and less costly results and work better through technology. The problem is that many companies still think the answer to any problem is to set up a team

3 simple steps to improve your conference calls

If you want faster, easier conference calls for your team, Speed Lead proposes a process including these three simple steps.

1. Stop talking about individual issues on group conference calls – activity reviews and updates are usually only relevant to the manager and one other individual.

2. Minimize the number of people on the call – if it is more than 6, expect a “shut up and listen” experience, not interaction.

3. As soon as issues affecting everyone are covered, allow people no longer involved to leave the call, or break into a series of smaller calls so people are only involved in topics relevant to them.

Our participants tell us that at least half of the time they spend in meetings and conference calls is unnecessary, mainly because the topics discussed are not relevant to them. You can see how your burden of unnecessary cooperation compares with other companies at our free online survey at Speed Report

“By recognizing that working through technology is different we can speed up conference calls, make them shorter, easier to run and more satisfying to attend,” says Hall, it’s a real win: win for all involved and costs nothing to implement.”

To find out more about the process for implementing this in your team get your copy of Speed Lead

Speed Lead - What people are saying about the book.

We have already shipped over 400 pre-publication copies of the book. The response has been very positive,

"We all want our companies to be faster, simpler and easier to run - this refreshing blend of challenging ideas and practical tools shows us how." Karl Kahofer, Group President, Rubbermaid / IRWIN Group Europe & Asia Pacific

"Great management and leadership includes application of a lot of common sense. This book contains the sort of practical help and guidance that you can dip into and refresh your common sense quotient. Keep it close!" Christine Betts Senior, Director, Audience Marketing, Microsoft

If you want to find out more about how to speed up your organization through radically simplifying your approach to cooperation, communication, control and community - act now to get your pre-publication copy of the book.

Get ahead of the game - be one of the first to read Speed Lead and see how it can make your work life faster, easier and more satisfying.

Get your copy here .....

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Last updated: 02/01/07 04:18pm