The essence of teams

The essence of teams

• 1.
  The Essence ofSurvival Every morning in Africa, a Gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed . . .
• 2.
  The Fittest chasingthe Fit Every morning a Lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest Gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter Whether you are a lion or a Gazelle… When the sun comes up, you’d better be running.
• 3.
  Lessons from theGeese In the areas of our country where geese are very common, they can be seen arriving in the fall and leaving early in the spring. Their migration is an awesome sight. There is an interdependence in the way the geese function.
• 4.
  Lessons from theGeese FACT: As each bird flaps its wings, it creates an “up lift” for the bird following. By flying in a “V” formation, the whole flock adds 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew alone. LESSON: People who share a common direction and a sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.
• 5.
   FACT: Whenevera goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to fly alone. It quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front.  LESSON: If we have as much sense as a goose, we will stay in formation with those who are headed where we want to go.
• 6.
   FACT: Whenthe lead goose gets tired, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies at the point position.  LESSON: It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership. People, as with geese, are interdependent with each other.  FACT: The geese in formation honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.  LESSON: We need to make sure our honking from behind is encouraging.
• 7.
   FACT: Whena goose gets sick or wounded or shot down, two geese drop out of formation to follow him down to help and protect him. They stay with him until he is either able to fly again or dies. Then they launch out on their own with another formation or catch up with their flock.  LESSON: If we have as much sense as the geese, we will stand together.
• 8.
  Successful Teams • Teamsat Motorola produced its best cellular phones • Team Taurus developed Ford’s best selling automobile • Team Saturn produced the Saturn automobile
• 9.
  • Teams at3M generate hundreds of innovations to keep 3M ahead of its competitors. Teams literally manage the whole business. • Chrysler used cross-functional team to develop its small car Neon without any foreign collaboration (it became the first American company to do so)
• 10.
  • Hallmark cardsin Kansas city – Writers, artists, production specialists join with employees from manufacturing, graphic artists, sales & distribution work on everything from developing new-product ideas to improving customer deliveries.
• 11.
  • Boeing 777was built by “Design-Build” teams. • In 1960, IBM created a large task force to create system 360 which was a huge success • Government of Singapore introduced WIT (work improvement teams) as part of national effort to improve man- management and productivity.
• 12.
  Characteristics of EffectiveTeams  Clear Purpose  Informality  Participation  Consensus Decision Making  Civilized Disagreement  Shared Leadership  Open Communications  Listening  Clear Roles & Work Assignments