Today, organizations privilege work teams in the development of their different processes, they find in them the possibility of promoting the development of talents as a factor of success in achieving corporate purposes, beyond performance improvement, for how much they recognize that the results are given in the synergy developed by the members of the work teams.
Difficulties such as conflicts, lack of commitment, lack of motivation for work and missed dates, for example, have been overcome thanks to the recognition that the drive to overcome the challenges posed by work in the organization can be achieved thanks to the collaborators They feel part of a work team where their contribution is not only valued but required.
In all the teams there will be people who, due to their experience, knowledge, ability, attitude or the sum of all of them, become the stars around whom the work of others revolves, in such a way that this natural leadership is recognized and supported. These people feel that they have the necessary supports to successfully develop management. Talent then begins to become evident as a collective and not just an individual expression. Quoting Pilar Jérico, “Talent is only possible when you have a team to back it up” and we can effectively see it in sports teams where individual talents are recognized, but it will always be concluded that their results are obtained thanks to the joint work of all members.
This leads us to reflect then on the impact that the selection of each one of them has on the work team. When a person comes to a team, they must be clear about the expected contribution, recognize that their work will be definitive regardless of whether it is a humble job or perhaps not so applauded at the time of the celebrations, but surely remembered and claimed if it fails.
An example that I usually give has to do with the mechanic who changes the right rear wheel to the world champion of FORMULA ONE when he enters the garages; due to his safety conditions, he wears a helmet that protects him and prevents him from being recognized, it is an anonymous job but of the utmost value, since if he does his job wrong the champion may fail in his attempt to win the race or whatever worse, it can lead to an accident of unpredictable consequences. The fact that in the end the applause can be for one person is an invitation to include all those who made possible the superior results obtained.
This reflection is aimed at validating the importance of having stars in our work teams capable of making a difference in relation to management and therefore developing in them the necessary skills to build optimal performances, but at the same time identify the need to motivate, through recognition and training, the contributions made by each of the team members.
We find in organizations people who feel that they can give much more than their work requires and this means that sometimes they let themselves be carried away by routine, among other things because their work does not necessarily represent a challenge that they must face with all their capacity, their work is mechanized and the initial motivation disappears, leading them to states of mental prostration and in many cases to leave the organization in search of horizons and organizations that allow them greater participation.
Managers must recognize each of the people who are part of the team, it is not enough just to select them, they must be clear about the goal they must achieve and the resources they have to achieve it. Organizations that are unaware of the potential of their collaborators are missing the opportunity to develop and generate innovative processes in the management they carry out.
The work teams not only share a space and a time together, they must also clearly share the expectation of tasks and works that induce creativity and innovation. Therefore, each team member must identify, as Ken Blanchard says, “the rules of the game” in such a way that, recognizing their area of action, they can design new ways of doing things.
Working as a team is quite a worn competition in recent times. Ultimately, we can ask ourselves what is working as a team? It is enough to gather a group of people and tell them that teamwork is important and assign a specific task with objectives and times? Maybe not.
One of the biggest contradictions that we find in organizations that promote teamwork as an organizational competence or as a transversal axis to all management, is that the awards remain individual, the best of the month, the best performance, etc. are awarded…, in such a way that the other members are excluded from recognition. This contradiction is reflected in the organizational climate and is a price that ends up being paid in the development of new projects.
Teamwork, then, is the joint way to obtain results. Compensation must then be accompanied by a collective component, which allows establishing models of equity and participation. It is incumbent on the members of the work team to guide efforts to design a management model that reflects what teamwork is, in such a way that the problems that we recognize on a daily basis in the organization and that lead us to look for alternatives aimed at decrease relationship difficulties between people or between work areas do not fall into the emptiness of managerial indifference because, on many occasions, we do not succeed with solutions that address the causes of the problems and continue, on the contrary,insisting on calming the symptoms that reappear for the simple reason that we have not intervened in the origins of the problem that is expressed in multiple ways and that we surely have identified in tests, surveys and evaluations that we carry out from time to time.
Talent then emerges as a manifestation of joint efforts, the support received and the combination of multiple actors in the development of a task. It is evident that personal discipline, individual capacities and demonstrated commitment to a challenge, manage to establish valuable results for the organization. When a talented person does not find a work team that affirms their competences, they will quickly find themselves redoubling efforts to achieve their goals.
We all have talents, there is no doubt, the question has to do with how we make them available to the team and how we manage to multiply the effects of these synergies built on the recognition of others.
In Gung Ho (Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles), a simile with three animals is proposed, the first, the spirit of the squirrel that leads us to recognize that all work is worthwhile and humble as it contributes to the proposed goal, which our work makes the world better, without this condition we will be immersed in the losing routine that leads us to live in organizations that are not motivated and fed by envy among team members.
The second, the beaver style, which invites us to recognize the limits of our management, to know that we cannot do everything alone, that we need others and that it is necessary to create spaces where we can share, collaborate and participate in the tasks of others. Each person on the team must know not only what they are doing but also what they are doing it for, as S. Covey says "staying with the end in mind" helps to make sense of the work.
Finally, the gift of the goose, which is an invitation to strengthen the bonds between people, to recognize ourselves in a dynamic business culture of which we feel part, where we are able to applaud and rejoice in the successes of others, to support and congratulate, a space where we not only find ourselves guilty of mistakes and failures, on the contrary a place where we are encouraged and motivated to learn more every day.
The work team is the place where we give our lives every day, where we share our knowledge and where our efforts make sense because we establish links and relationships that allow us to feel recognized and therefore challenged to go beyond the task and what is expected.
I invite you then to review the diagnoses that we have in the organization, let's define which of them are only symptoms of problems that are not solved with a training action, with a transfer, with an increase in salaries, with a bonus, etc. the deep causes that have given rise to those situations that today we recognize as obstacles to the proper development of management and we define forceful actions capable of solving these situations.
One of the current trends in the labor market has to do with the so-called "teleworking" which has allowed many professionals to carry out their tasks and jobs from home or at least without regularly attending an office where they have the opportunity to physically meet with their coworkers to share ideas or establish agreements and therefore the meetings are virtual sessions. I believe that all of the aforementioned applies equally because our condition as gregarious beings leads us to seek permanent relationship with those whom we recognize as our co-workers.
Finally, it is important to recognize that individual talent and the work team go hand in hand, the one will not appear without the other and it is the managers' responsibility to select the appropriate personnel, train them to obtain superior results and evaluate their work to demonstrate the learning. that will allow adjusting and improving individually and collectively.
I hope that these reflections contribute in some way to designing a management model that allows better individual and group performance that positively impacts the expected results of the organization.
