Chief Learning Officer - August 2007 - (Page 42)

human capital Building Learning Teams Roger R. Pearman Managers often are quick to build teams when faced with a project or a problem to solve. But in many cases, these teams are formed without considering the end goals, who should be on the team or if a team is even necessary. Alex Johnston, a vice president for a global financial services organization, could not believe the numbers in front of him. Two product teams in different parts of the organization had essentially the same resources, but one excelled, and the other had all the symptoms of failure. The successful team seemed to require very little from him, while the troubled team consumed a great deal of his time. In fact, he felt he could have completed the work with a great deal less grief and higher productivity. The successful team, on the other hand, was asking for more demanding projects and reported both loving the challenges and learning from its efforts. The failing team had increasing turnover, long lists of complaints and a general ongoing frustration about its work. Why did one work and the other fail? What can Alex learn from both to build successful teams in the future? He decided to research the teams and to seek the guidance of the vice president for organizational learning. In his research, Alex found that organizations sometimes decide to build a team when, in fact, a group of experts is needed to address a problem. So, the first issue to consider is: Do we really need a team for this challenge? Assuming the answer is “Yes,” are we willing to invest the time and resources to build this team? Finally, to make sure we make the most of our resources, what are the best strategies to employ to build a learning team? Teams have proven to be beneficial for: • Reducing lead times. • Decreasing cycle times. • Cutting service times. • Managing processes. • Performing daily work. • Increasing rate of transactions. • Developing products and services. • Redesigning systems. • Understanding customer needs. To address these challenges successfully, the following conditions must be present: • The task is complex. • Creativity is needed. • The path forward is unclear. • More efficient use of resources is required. • Fast learning is necessary. • High commitment is desirable. • Cooperation is essential to implementation. • Members have a stake in the outcome. • The task or process involved is cross-functional. • No one has sufficient knowledge to solve the problem individually. If you want to build a team to address a key business challenge, you must transition the members from a group of contributors to a true team (see Figure 1). The vice president for organizational learning pointed out to Alex that the path from the contributor’s characteristics to those of a high- August 2007 I www.clomedia.com I Chief Learning Officer 42 http://www.clomedia.com

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