Part 3: Team composition sets the results

Examples of my previous posts Winning teams are built and Myth and reality of teams have shown that team issues can be more important than we think. Let’s do one more tour in team issue; do these theories and practices count also in public organizations?

Government policies can drive highly successful change, there is no doubt. Israelis have proven this by establishing successful high-tech, high growth business ecosystem. It started as a policy led operation almost 20 years ago, and it has generated highly successful VC industry and high-tech companies, professional business development services, and path to build companies into major markets. It was a systemic building process which entailed building several elements at the same time. They reformed almost entirely their existing business and finance ecosystem, and instruments related to that.

Dr. Jenni Airaksinen brings in her newly published doctoral dissertation some exciting examples of the challenges related to reform of public institutions. Airaksinen’s research finding shows that core process of administrative reform is “maintaining the cohesion of the elite”. According to her, public authorities have ended up into the situation where there is remarkable gap between rhetorics and reality when dealing with need for reform processes.

Airaksinen says: “The most evident patterns of behavior in the reform process were pronounced pursuit of consensus, compromise seeking and avoidance of conflict. … Limitedness is even more problematic in multi-actor, network-type situations, where different interpretations of situations are not confronted but concealed in the fear of conflicts. … The acceptance of struggle as a part of administrative reform requires that the individuals of the decision-making elites are ready to function on groups, where anxiety is allowed to be present at times. … Negotiation is however not possible in the situation where the fundamental objective of elite-group is to prevent individuals of the group from exposing to anxiety. If this is accepted, it is likely to lead to small steps, bad compromises, and fragmented applications of reform in practices.”

Her findings get me back to the Niccolo Machiavelli’s famous book The Prince from year 1532. One of his most famous quotes was: “There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new.” Airaksinen and Machiavelli have both captured the core enabler for successful reform: team members, their commitment and incentives for change, play crucial role in building successful reform. All comes back to the team.

Here is something to think about for entrepreneurs, financiers, public officials... actually for all of us. Teams make sense and teams make difference. Big question is how to build and manage teams to succeed?

Despite all aimed strategies and goals, the real strategies and goals are set when selecting members of the team and setting guiding principles it.

In other words, by selecting team members who are committed to fight for their own position instead of fight for team and goals at all costs, who are looking for status quo instead of taking risks and betting for big win, who are working inside comfort zone instead of working outside the comfort zone… By selecting such a team, despite all rhetoric and aims of high goals, we are actually creating obstacle to achieve goals . Practice and scientific evidence speaks for this emphasis. And I believe in this is true.

For the next recruitment process, I hope this is something worth to think about.



References

Airaksinen, Jenni (2009). Hankala hallintouudistus (In English: Troublesome Nature of Administrative Reform). Doctoral Dissertation. University of Tampere, Finland. http://acta.uta.fi/haekokoversio.php?id=11177

Machiavelli, Niccolo (1532). The Prince.