We have all heard throughout our lives the importance and value of teamwork. Even as children, on sports teams and in school, we have consistently been influenced by the concept of teamwork. So how do we take these long held beliefs that teamwork is more effective in driving performance and apply it to the workplace? Especially, if we are working in a workplace where ‘healthy’ competition (the antithesis of teamwork) is rewarded. Is it really possible to bring teamwork to such an environment? The answer is, yes!
So, what is an integrated team? An integrated team is a group of people with different areas of expertise and knowledge, functioning in harmony to contribute their respective technical and behaviour skills toward the completion of a task or the accomplishment of a goal. The integrated team employs human performance technology (HPT), also known as human performance improvement (HPI) approach whereby the work is interconnected and the members are interdependent, so low performance in one segment of the system does not have disastrous effects on the performance of the entire system.
Anyone can put together a working group and call it a team, but it takes an influential leader with Positive Presence™ skills to be able to create and sustain a highly functional integrated team. While an integrated team is most optimal during an organizational crisis, it must be developed prior to the crisis. It is the crisis that is the test – and most often results in conflict brought on by behavioural dysfunction due to low trust, communication lapses, lack of accountability, and competing personal agendas.
Creating and sustaining a strong integrated team requires the leader to be coach and manager, providing guidance and needed resources and then getting out of the way and staying out of the way. In times of crisis, micromanagement is absolutely not the answer. When you have a highly functioning integrated team working together, crisis is just another day!
CORPORATE HARMONY is grateful to Dr. Michael E. Frisina for his contributions to this entry.
Catherine is the President and CEO of CORPORATE HARMONY, providing virtual solutions for leadership development and organizational culture change. Her leadership and coaching experience as a Project Manager in an ever-changing, fast moving technological organization with unrelenting demands drove her to the realization that a positive mindset and strength-building behaviors are essential for today’s complex and chaotic organizational systems. CORPORATE HARMONY’s virtual platform of programs, coaching and performance measurement, is an innovative online technology of tested proprietary content. The world-class content of CORPORATE HARMONY’s Positive Presence Program develops the skill of ‘Positive Presence’ and the necessary ‘Positive Presence Behaviour Competencies’ for maintaining a positive and energized mindset and increased performance in today’s complex work environment, and leading to a culture of collaboration and connection. Catherine’s vision for Corporate Harmony is to bring the skill of “Positive Presence” to the corporate world as it becomes more complex, ambiguous and chaotic. Catherine is uniquely positioned to impact organizations’ productivity and long term success, with her powerful vision of eliminating bad stress from every workplace around the globe, bringing purpose into the people equation to promote healthy, productive and meaningful work cultures and turn the tide on the neglect of mental health on a global scale. Catherine is author of the book: “CORPORATE HARMONY – The Performance Link for Today’s Modern Organization” Catherine can be reached at: Catherine.Osborne@corporateharmony.ca or go to ‘contact us’ on our website www.corporateharmony.ca. Catherine is available for consultation, and can be reached by 519-695-3407.