The Winter Olympics were going on in Nagano, Japan, February 19 and 20 when a group of about twenty employees of Scanlon Member Companies joined together in Grand Rapids, MI to study work teams. As most who follow the Olympics know, dedication, planning, preparation, practice, and hard work are essential for an athlete to win the opportunity to participate. Despite the pre-Olympics efforts, everything does not always go as planned or expected. Underdogs may perform better than ever before. Teams who were expected to win a Gold Medal are eliminated early in the competition. There are celebrations of accomplishment and "agonies of defeat." Regardless of winning the gold, or being eliminated early, most would agree anyone who participates is a winner.

Likewise, organizations implementing work teams are likely to exert a great deal of effort and realize many benefits, regardless of quick victories or seeming losses. As we learned in the Tools for Team Excellence workshop sponsored by the SPA and presented by Dr. Greg Huszczo, good news/bad news scenarios are common in the work arena when practicing the team concept.

Dr. Huszczo did a wonderful job of presenting and illustrating the good news and bad news of work teams. Part of the "good news" is that much of the "bad news" can be avoided by first doing thorough planning, preparation, and practice. Dr. Huszczo's book, Tools for Team Excellence, and workshop go a long way in providing direction to do this. Experience is a great teacher, but why learn from negative experiences if there are tools to assist in having a more positive experience the first time?

Notice I didn't say unequivocally a "positive" experience the first time, but rather a "more" positive (less negative) experience. Implementing a team concept involves work, struggles, and pain. The workshop covered most of the concepts from the book, such as "The Seven Components of Effective Teams." It also provided numerous opportunities to learn team skills through practice and participation by means of teams formed for the various exercises.

One of the exercises, Sellers of Apples and Oranges, will likely be remembered for a long time by most participants. It was clearly pointed out that teamwork and concern for each other on the team is not enough. Teams must also have constructive external relations, the 7th Component of Effective Teams. Teams competing against one another within the same organization can cause great problems financially and socially.

The Apple and Orange exercise led to a discussion of motivation of teams and team incentives. As is true for most aspects of teams, there was not a conclusive right or wrong. Dr. Huszczo summed it up well, however, when he said "The key to team incentives is that they be perceived as being equitable."

Dr. Huszczo presented a number of interesting subtleties of teams based on his broad consulting experience. One of these was his observation that management's treatment of management is a strong predictor of the success of the team concept in an organization. In other words, if upper management treats middle management in a non-team-oriented manner, the front line work teams are more likely to fail. Conversely, if upper management openly and consistently values middle management's ideas and input, it reflects a company-wide support of the team concept, and a greater chance of ultimate success.

A powerful aspect of all SPA events I have participated in is the sharing of practical experience from employees at all levels of member companies. This was built into this session by the composition of the audience. In addition, Paul Davis arranged a dinner presentation of Sligh Furniture's experience with implementing teams. Three levels of involvement were represented by Don Clack, VP of Human Resources, Rick Osmun, Manager of Human Resources, and Frank Arrendondo, Finishing Department Team Coordinator. They did a wonderful job of laying out their process and many of the pitfalls they encountered. Mr. Arrendondo made a powerful statement relating to his and his team's initial resistance to the concept. He said, "We finally realized that this was something we needed to learn if we want to have jobs in the future." His point was that companies in the future are compelled to use the team concept if they are to remain competitive and survive. Therefore, front line employees need to have team skills in addition to technical skills.

If your company is considering or planning to implement teams, or you are already using the team concept, I would strongly recommend Dr. Huszczo's book Tools for Team Excellence. It is loaded with practical tools and insights that can greatly enhance your potential for success with work teams. I consider it a "must read" for anyone involved in teams. It can put you well on the way to "Going for the Gold" in your company.