Does The Work Require A Team?

Does the work require a team, or is a group of loosely coupled individuals good enough? 🤔

I’ve been thinking about this question a lot recently. The initial trigger was a meetup we hosted with Martin Ahlström. During this meetup, Martin shared his experience with high-performing teams in the military. Where it’s the norm in the military, it’s the exception in organizations.

My takeaway:
👉 In the military, a real team is needed to achieve a mission
👉 In organizations, not all work requires a real team

Characteristics of a real team are:
✅ They have a shared, compelling, and inspiring purpose.
✅ Team members depend on each other to complete their work and collaborate towards shared goals and tasks.
✅ It’s clear to everyone who is on the team and who isn’t.

I recently talked to someone frustrated because an Agile Coach told him they were not acting as a ‘real team.’ The organization formed dozens of ‘teams,’ and each team should live up to the criteria of a ‘real team.’

The people on his team developed Business intelligence forms. Although the types of forms changed, the essence of the work remained the same.

They didn’t have a compelling purpose, and there wasn’t any task interdependence, so they didn’t match the criteria of a real team. This was fine for the team members. They enjoyed their work and happily collaborated with colleagues. 👌

However, according to the organizational standards of teamwork, they scored low, and the Agile Coach wanted them to ‘step up their game.’

I could fully understand this person’s frustration. Their work doesn’t require a real team. It’s a BI department creating forms (and doing other things).

Sometimes, organizations need to rethink how they organize work to enable the creation of real teams, and sometimes, work doesn’t require a real team. 🤷‍♀️

What helps is to have an open mindset, be curious, and be respectful towards the people doing the work. 🙏

What is your experience with ‘real teams’ or ‘groups of individuals’? 
Do you have examples of work that didn’t require a real team, yet the organizations pushed for it?