Ready to return a sense of urgency to your company? Start by forming fewer project teams. Identify your stars. Turn them loose to accomplish specific tasks. Dispense with team meetings. Gather people together in a room only when you want to collaborate on a specific problem.
Teams tend to be one of the least effective ways of getting things done quickly. On the surface, that statement might seem counter intuitive. After all, the more people you have rowing the faster you should go; right? Allow me to camp out on this metaphor of rowing for a minute. Picture in your mind the classic Olympic style of team rowing. Teams are made up of 2, 4, or 8 members. Most of the members are rowers, or strokemen, and in some cases there is a person telling them to “ROW,” the coxswain. This sport takes place on smooth, straight stretches of water because the goal is speed not maneuverability. As such, 8-person boats go from point-A to point-B faster than a 1, 2 or 4 person craft. The more people you have rowing the faster you go.
Unfortunately, projects do not resemble smooth, straight stretches of water. Most projects are more like a trip down the Snake River! There are slow stretches, followed by technical stretches, and then some bends, rapids, and narrow squeezes. When you are on whitewater, the smaller the boat the better off you will be. Six experts in single person kayaks will negotiate the river and reach the finish line much faster than six experts rowing a large raft. So why would someone choose to go down a river on a raft as opposed to the freedom of a kayak? Here are some possible reasons:
1. If I get tired I can stop paddling and let these other suckers do the work for me.
2. If I fall in the drink there will be someone who will stop what they are doing and fish me out.
3. I am not very skilled. By being a member of this rafting team maybe no one will notice.
4. There is a guide in this raft who will tell me exactly what to do so I won’t have to think or make decisions on my own.
5. Why do I care if we get down the river quickly? I want to take it all in.
6. If we don’t make it to the end of this journey, there is a good chance no one will point the finger directly at me! I am safe.