Teams are often strongly impacted by restructuring processes. Their composition changes, or they have a new leader, or maybe they have a new purpose. There needs to be a process for quickly establishing individual and team roles, responsibilities and priorities.
Issues that teams and groups have to contend with during periods of organizational change brought about by restructuring include:
- loss of individual roles and jobs;
- new individual roles and jobs;
- loss of team members;
- new team members;
- new team purpose and objectives;
- new line manager;
- new organizational or departmental strategy.
Any of these can cause individual members of a team, or the team as a whole, to experience a range of emotions and new ways of thinking about their organization, their colleagues and their own career.
Teams need to develop so that their contribution to the organizational changes can be as good as possible as quickly as possible.
From our consultancy experience we find one particular framework useful for newly restructured teams. This framework encompasses a number of the issues we have highlighted. We encourage teams to work through the four-part framework in order to establish quickly the sense of team cohesion necessary for tasks to be accomplished in a meaningful and collaborative way. This is best done in a workshop format.
We have found that if a team spends the time to focus both on the people and task side of this process, it will be able to deal with the transition less turbulently than one that has not.
Four-stage team alignment
Understanding one another’s skills, feelings and values.
It is useful for the team to acknowledge its own journey to where it is today. This means talking about the individuals, the team and other influential parts of the organization, and the processes of changes that have been gone through to arrive at the current situation. How much of this it is necessary to acknowledge will depend upon the scale of change and the story so far.
Clarifying and prioritizing current work.
The team need to clarify the current level of demand, and must work together to satisfy current customer needs.
Clarifying and prioritizing future work and direction.
If teams are facing a large change agenda, they can easily become overwhelmed unless activities are phased and planned. Do-ability must be convincing. Teams need to take stock of their current agenda, ensure it is understood, and agree priorities, responsibilities and timing.
Functioning effectively as a team.
The impact of stages 1 to 3 can be extremely demanding on a team. The team needs to develop clarity about its roles, dynamics, practicalities of meetings, phasing of its development activities, communication and follow-through. Most teams will have deficiencies and development needs in one or more areas. Teams need to assess where they need to improve and focus on those areas as a priority.
The specific outcome of this process for individuals and teams is greater clarity about the practical changes that need to happen and how necessary transformations can be managed.
You will have seen from the chapters on individual and team change that all individuals and teams undergoing change will progress through various stages. The four-stage team alignment model above attempts to address some of the key points from those chapters. Table 5.4 on pages 190 and 191 brings all the key team factors together in one table as useful reference.
Addressing team change during restructuring
Forming
Storming
Task
(orientation)
People
(dependency)
Task
(organization)
People
(conflict)
Team purpose
Establish purpose of change and team objectives in relation to change
Ensure understanding and commitment from team around change purpose on an intellectual and emotional level
Ensure clarity around purpose of change and team objectives in relation to change
Check out individual engagement to purpose (enrolment, enlistment, compliance, resistance). Discuss differences.
Team roles
Establish roles and responsibilities of whole team and individual members
Ensure individuals understand their roles and those of others.
Establish whether there are any overlaps or grey areas.
Ensure clarity of roles and responsibilities of whole team and individual members
Establish degree of comfort with individual roles and establish levels of support and challenge required.
Highlight areas of team tension.
Team processes
Highlight the need for team processes
Establish groundrules for team working
Establish processes for decision making, problem solving, conflict resolution if not already in place
Check out levels of trust and agreement.
Surface areas of team tension.
Team relations
Highlight the need for team processes
Establish groundrules for team working
Ensure team is agreed on purpose, objectives, roles and processes
Build safe environment for team to openly express thoughts and feelings
Inter-team relations
Establish dependencies on and with other organizational groupings
Highlight the need to establish protocols with key organizational groupings
Establish process for communicating with other organizational groupings
Engage with other groupings on how they will work together
MBTI [*]
Ensure balance between high level vision and more tangible and specific objectives
Balance between acknowledging the business case for the change and individuals’ feelings about the change
Ensure balance between tying agreements down and keeping options open
Ensure that different types are understood and potential pitfalls and communication barriers
Key Belbin roles
Chair, shaper, plant, company worker
Chair, team worker
Chair, resource investigator
Chair, team worker, monitorevaluator
Organizational focus
Ensure alignment of team goals to organizational change objectives
Ensure team members engage on an intellectual and emotional level with organizational goals
Ensure team structure, roles and responsibilities fit with proposed changes and organizational ethos
Ensure commitment to organizational goals and operating in line with values
Norming
Performing
Task
(open data flow)
People
(cohesion)
Task
(problem solving)
People
(interdependence)
Team purpose
Review progress on team purpose and objectives; adjust as necessary
Review progress, recognize achievement
Review progress on team purpose and objectives; adjust as necessary
Review team performance against purpose, recommit as necessary
Team roles
Review roles and responsibilities; adjust as necessary
Review progress, recognize achievements and development areas
Review roles and responsibilities; adjust as necessary.
Develop strategies for improving performance.
Review individual role performance and structure, recognize achievement and provide development
Team processes
Review team processes; adjust as necessary
Review team processes; adjust as necessary
Review team processes; adjust as necessary.
Develop strategies for improving performance.
Review level of team efficiency; adjust as necessary.
Develop strategies for improving performance.
Team relations
Review team relations; attend to if necessary
Review progress; recognize achievement
Review team relations; attend to if necessary.
Develop strategies for improving performance.
Reflect upon level of team effectiveness.
Develop strategies for improving performance.
Inter-team relations
Review level of inter-team working; plan negotiations if necessary
Review level of inter-team working; engage others in negotiating better relations if necessary
Implement actions from review if necessary.
Develop strategies for improving performance.
Continue to foster good working relations with other organizational groupings
MBTI[*]
Review predominate team type, take appropriate managerial action, if necessary
Review team strengths and weaknesses and develop blind spots
Balance time between reviewing past performance and planning future changes
Balance time between individual and team needs, past performance and future planning
Key Belbin roles
Monitor-evaluator, shaper, company worker, completer-finisher
Chair, monitor-evaluator, team worker
Shaper, (plant), monitor-evaluator, completer-finisher
Chair, monitor-evaluator, team worker
Organizational focus
As team begins to experience less turbulence, review alignment with organizational goals and check team performance against milestones
Ensure team model values and espoused behaviours within and outside of team
Ensure team in all of its five elements is performing at an effective level
Ensure team is operating effectively across organizational boundaries