Team work makes the dream work.

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You are receiving this email because you joined me on my “MBA journey”. Thank you so much for your interest and support! The current focus of my studies lies on “Organisational Behaviour” (or OB). Within this module and this newsletter, I’m deep diving into team dynamics to give you insights and tools for managing team work.

What is a team, what is a group?

By definition, a team is a cohesive unit of individuals working collaboratively towards a shared goal, each member contributing their skills and expertise.

For example, soccer players form a team with the goal of winning the match or championship.

But as you know, the “business of soccer” (consider any soccer club or the Premier League as an example) consists of more than just the teams.

Spectators, for example, constitute a group of people who are interested in soccer, the same team or maybe even specific players. And they are willing to invest time and money into their hobby or passion.

A group is defined as a collection of individuals who share a common characteristic, interest, or purpose.

That said, every team is a group, but not every group is a team.

The big difference lies in the “shared goal” of a team versus the “common interest” of groups.

In most organisations there are groups and teams.

At konversionsKRAFT, the consultancy I work for, there are many groups and teams. We have an informal group of people who do sport together, a group that experiments with AI, and a formal group of colleagues who share their experience and best practices for growing their personal network on LinkedIn.

But none of these are teams. We don’t have the goal of winning the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge in Frankfurt, for example. Neither do we have a shared goal of total reach on LinkedIn or any related business impact (although we might actually do that in the near future).

We do have teams, though. Client-facing teams (with the goal of maximising ROI), a team for customer acquisition (pipeline volume) and of course a management team (growing the company).

From an organisational perspective, it is crucial to actively create a culture of team working.

Why it’s important to build and manage effective teams in organisations

The team I work in (called the “Growth Team”) was formed in early 2022. It took us the better of a year to actually function as a team as we went through different stages of team development. If you’re not familiar with Tuckman’s model (see the image below), I highly recommend you dive into the literature. Being aware of this process helps to navigate through “the storm” that is caused by the creation of a new team. We had regular discussions on where we currently stand, and it really helped us to agree on the next best steps.

And then there’s also a fairly new concept called “teaming”, which is a way of bringing together experts into temporary groups to solve complex problems: challenges that have not previously been experienced and therefore call for improvisation.

Such situations do not allow people to spend time getting to know each other, working together over time to form group norms. Instead, there is a need to bring together groups of people who respond rapidly to the challenges at hand, and then disband. Teaming is more chaotic than traditional teamwork, but is likely to characterise much of our future experiences.

Watch the following video from Amy Edmondson, Professor at Harvard Business School, who introduced this concept to learn more about it.

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Of course, there are some downsides to teams, too, but I’m a big believer in the upsides and optimism, so I’ll spare you the details. 😉

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And that already concludes the chapter on “Team Dynamics”.

Here are some personal recommendations to takeaway:

1. Know the differences between groups and teams.
2. Be aware of different teams and groups you are part of (or not) and think about why you—and colleagues—joined these groups.
3. As a leader, be conscious about your decision of creating a team instead of a group. Do you want or need to define a specific goal?
4. Always consider teaming as an alternative.
5. Invest in team building (Tuckman model) and look out for any signs of social loafing and free riding.