In the last blog, we talked about the definition of a team. This blog will focus on the types of teams depending on the degree of interconnectedness – ranging from independent on one side to dependent on the other, and all the shades in between. Identifying the kind of team you have can help better nurture it in an intentional way to achieve maximum value.
Let’s jump into 3 kinds of teams:
1. Independent Team. A mainly independent team is where all members can perform the same basic tasks independently. They may be able to help each other, perhaps by offering advice or providing moral support, but everyone’s success is primarily due to their efforts. It is about getting what you need by yourself. In the workplace, it could be teams who work independently and get their job done, and at times they can collaborate to enhance their performance, but they do not necessarily have to in order to complete their tasks.
Some sports examples include bowling and track and field. In bowling, each person is responsible for knocking down their pins, all contributing to the team’s score and purpose of winning, but essentially individuals do not need to be collaborating at the moment to get their job done. Similarly, in track and field, players can do different events, and while their efforts contribute to the overall result, they do not need to coordinate to do their job.
Similarly, teachers do not need to collaborate with their coworkers to conduct their lessons and maximize student potential. Of course, closer teamwork can be beneficial because they can share the most effective pedagogical approaches, build stronger lessons that make connections between subjects, and discuss how each student learns best for a customized approach. It is also helpful to be aligned with coworkers and have similar norms for students to help build a robust school culture, but they can still teach their classes without depending on coworkers.
2. Dependent Team. This is when the work of one teammate depends on the work of the others. It’s like putting together a puzzle, each person has a piece, so they need to problem solve and make decisions together, or the puzzle cannot be completed.
In sports, relay and rowing teams are good examples. If you are running a 4-person relay race and one person decides not to participate, the whole team suffers and likely would not even be able to compete. Instead, the way for the team to win is for everybody to perform at their best. In rowing, members are usually at the same skill level and can move at the same pace because of the high degree of coordination and dependability.
In corporate, I see this a lot with leadership teams. They need to come together to align on a vision and commit to getting their teams to carry out the mission and vision to meet the needs of the stakeholders.
3. Interdependent Team. This is when team members work together to fulfill a goal, have defined tasks and roles, and depend on each other’s efforts to achieve outcomes. There can be a range of interdependence with dependence on one side of the spectrum and independence on the other. Some of their work at specific points can require working individually, and other parts can mean working collaboratively. For high interdependent teams, the work is integrated; none of the members have separate work.
In sports, baseball and football are common examples. When playing defense in baseball, there is a higher degree of interdependence; the fielders need to coordinate their positions, catches, and throws to prevent baserunners from advancing. They share information about batter tendencies and adjust their field position in response to that data. When on offense, if you are first at-bat with nobody on base, there is some independence. But, that can quickly transform into interdependence when more baserunners hop aboard as there is a degree of unspoken coordination; the trailing runner cannot advance more than the lead runner. Football is similar; when on offense, there is a high degree of interdependence. The quarterback connects with receivers by throwing the ball to where the player should be, while the other players will run routes to draw out the defense. When everybody does their jobs, it works well. On defense, teammates depend on each other to be in the right spots and make the right moves to stop the opponent from advancing.
This is common in cross-functional teams. For example, developing a new product requires input from the researchers who need to understand the customer’s needs, the engineer who builds the product, the designer who makes the product look good, the marketer who knows how to brand the product, and the salesperson who knows how to sell it. Getting those people on the same page initially can make a big difference because they each have knowledge that can enhance the overall product. While they may work independently a good portion of their time, they know how to quickly come together, exchange information, and accomplish a collective purpose. If you have departments who do not talk to each other, you get disunity and subpar products, you get a dysfunctional team.
So, Which Kinds of Teams Are Best?
While all teams should understand their roles, responsibilities, norms, and agreements, it is helpful to know what the situation demands and the types of teams you may need as they each offer strengths and weaknesses.
Faced with an interdependent task, you need to have a cohesive and highly communicative team that understands that the team goal is primary and trumps any individual agendas. They know their impact on each other, the actions that build trust, and how to have harmony. Interconnectedness requires a higher level of coordination, cooperation, knowledge sharing, and quality time to extract each person’s best. They will have to meet more frequently because one person’s work impacts another’s. Interdependence is the invisible glue that engages the team and holds them together. It sparks motivation and energy as they sync up for efficiency and innovation. As Keith Sawyer describes in Group Genius, “there is a sort of group flow – a state of peak performance that comes from close work, shared commitment to the goals, and pride in the team.” Moreover, in today’s VUCA world marked by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, teams see new challenges pop up all the time so they need the creativity, imagination, complexity of knowledge, and skills that no one individual can bring to the team. The interdependent team coordination is crucial to solving today’s most complex challenges.
If it is a job that does not require close coordination and knowledge sharing because there are independent goals, then independent teams could be the best way to get the work done in the initial stages and then come together at the end to collaborate. They still operate in a team environment and can check in with each other at any point to gain assistance and offer support, but do not need to be in daily communication because it could distract from their deep work initiatives. Teams can fail when you give them tasks that could be a better fit for the individual, no need to force blanket collaboration all the time on all functions, which can be counterproductive. It all depends on defining those crucial moments of collision for peak collaboration and then a divide and conquer approach with opportunities to check in with each other along the way to make sure there is the same drive for alignment.
Author Susan Gerke believes that while some teams think that they are independent or interdependent, most teams are dependent because each person’s work is tied to overall outcomes and pay performance. And if you’re focusing on goals at a team level and rewarding that, teams should understand how to work as a more dependent unit since there is significant reliance on one another. At times, individual goals can be met as long as it is in service and aligned with the team. For example, you may have a running back in football who is just 100 yards away from a lifetime record. Sure, you would like to get the ball to them as much as possible, but if the opposition gains strength and has double coverage on the player, the team would abort that goal of helping that individual and do what is best for the entire team to secure the win, and if it happens that he gets the ball and achieves his personal victory, so be it, it is still a win-win.
When you know the mission and vision of the team, you can design the team with the right level of interdependence so you can combine the individual resources into a collective pool that could be allocated strategically to offer the best and most innovative results. Tapping into the resources of many will position you to solve the hardest challenges better.
Quote of the day: "It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed." -Napoleon Hill
Q: What kind of team are you? What do you look for to do your best work? What level of interdependence do you need? Comment and share with us, we would love to hear!
[The next blog in this series 3/3 will focus on the stages of teams]
As a Leadership and Team Coach, I partner with leaders and teams to cultivate a flourishing team culture, contact me to learn more.
Teams form around a purpose