Teamworking

What is it?

Procurement managers work within cross-functional teams and are increasingly expected to lead them. They therefore need to develop an understanding of what makes an effective team, how they develop over time and the roles required within the team.

Effective teams require good leadership and governance, clear roles and responsibilities, and supportive team dynamics. They should have a common sense of identity and purpose, clear understanding of objectives, resources to achieve those objectives, shared values, mutual trust and respect among team members, good communication, willingness to speak openly, a range of skills to deal effectively with tasks, and a range of personal styles for team roles.

It takes time for a group of individuals to transition into an effective team. Tuckman identified five team development stages in this process. Individuals come together at the beginning with a great deal of uncertainty and transition through a period of conflict before settling down and performing effectively until complacency sets in. Each stage has an impact on the performance of the team over time. Each stage also requires different interventions from the team leader. See table below.

Effective teams also require a range of different roles to be performed in order to achieve balance. Belbin identified nine team roles which need to be fulfilled in order to make an effective team. Each role has strengths and weaknesses. The latter are seen as ‘allowable’ weaknesses in recognition that they are a direct consequence of the positive contributions that the role brings and are therefore acceptable. A well-balanced team covering all the roles will collectively benefit from the strengths of individual members and collectively overcome their weaknesses. See following table.

Just because there are nine team roles does not mean that a minimum of nine members are required in a team. Each person is likely to be strong in two or three of these roles, known as their ‘preferred roles’. The nine roles can be divided into three categories: action-oriented roles (shaper, implementer, completer/finisher); people-oriented roles (coordinator, team worker, resource investigator); and thinking-oriented roles (plant, monitor/evaluator, specialist). Members’ preferred roles are often concentrated within one of these categories.

As well as their preferred ones, members are likely to display two or three ‘manageable roles’. These are roles which can be developed and improved to make them more manageable, although there should ideally be someone else in the team who excels at them. Finally, members will be weak in two or three of the roles and should not be required to undertake them within the team. It is important for the team leader to ensure that their team has a mix of different personalities in order to fulfil all of the roles and to achieve a balanced and effective team.

What does it look like?

How does it work in practice?

A meta-analysis of teamwork practices in healthcare organisations resulted in a model being devised of the inputs, mediators (enablers or constraints), and outcomes.[1] The inputs of team members, team structure and organisational context are mediated by the existing interpersonal processes and behaviour which determine the success of the outcomes. Robust training and performance measurement also have an impact on the outcomes. See figure below.

A recent study of inter-professional teamwork amongst health professionals in a public hospital in South Africa identified barriers to and facilitators of effective teamworking.[2] The barriers were: high turnover, lack of human resources, lack of time, hierarchy, referral process, lack of knowledge of the roles and scopes of practice, negative attitudes, communication inefficiencies, language barriers, and professional jealousy. The facilitators were: increased human resources, communication technology, respect, and relationship building.

Finally, Google found that the most effective teams within the company could all answer ‘Yes’ to the same five questions:[3]

• Can we take risks in this team without feeling insecure or embarrassed?
• Can we count on each other to do high quality work, on time?
• Are goals, roles and execution plans in our team clear?
• Are we working on something that is personally important for each of us?
• Do we, fundamentally, believe that the work we’re doing matters?

[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29792459/

[2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32838588/

[3] https://edexec.co.uk/the-relationship-between-emotional-intelligence-and-leadership/