How Bad Teams Happen to Good People

by Dr. Janice Presser, CEO, The Gabriel Institute

Google “teamwork” and you'll get a zillion page hits - mostly useless. People talk about teams as if they were teams of oxen: 'Just work together and keep everyone moving in the same direction, and all will be fine.'

Teamwork Isn't That Simple

Teams like those can work well together if all you expect is that they should do exactly what you tell them to do, and do it when you want it. To keep this nice little system going, you'll have to check up on every little thing they do, pay them well, give them soothing background music, keep their hours short, and fire any rebels that surface. If this scenario actually appeals to you, you probably also think that having cheap, undocumented servants at home is utopian. But if the concept makes you just a little uncomfortable, think about this: You would be paying your people to pretend they are robots, and these days you might find it can be cheaper (and less trouble) to go with the real thing.

Many of the people who make businesses grow profitably have one quality in common: an appreciation for innovation. They need not be scientists or supergeeks. Just people who can spot an opportunity to innovate, and capitalize on it. The caveat here, though, is that there are many different ways to be innovative. Try Googling innovation and you won’t do much better than with teamwork. There are even a lot of 'are you innovative?' tests on the web, complete with all the 'right' answers. The problem? It's entirely possible to 'innovate' in the wrong direction.

Adding wrong-headed innovation to dogsled-oriented teamwork makes for a rough ride. As W. Edwards Deming said, "Put a good person in a bad system, and the system will win, hands down." You may have started out with some good people, but there's a good chance you'll wind up with a bad team.

Five Ways to Make a Good Team Go Bad

1. Make sure they aren’t allowed to make meaningful decisions. Remind them of this on a regular basis. The better you are at micromanagement, the easier this will be. You’ll know you are succeeding when meeting attendance can barely be achieved, even when it is mandatory, and team members actively avoid each other at the coffee station.
2. Avoid, at all costs, any Role diversity on the team. (That is to say, diverse styles of thinking and problem-solving.) The more people think and act alike, the less resistance there will be.
3. Create a culture of disrespect and mistrust, and above all, prevent any form of faith in the future from becoming part of it. A truly controlling, anti-innovation organization can become quite powerful, developing cult-like allegiance. It forces people into dysfunctional Roles for survival - a condition that spreads like crabgrass, and ensures that your good people will continue to form bad teams, no matter what their mission.
4. Remember that knowledge is power. Keep your team in the dark. This demonstrates clearly that you don’t trust them. And sprinkling a little disinformation here and there is great for tripping up anyone with an urge to show some initiative.
5. Demonstrate the same lack of respect for people that you would show to an interchangeable part. Make sure they know they can easily be replaced.

Following these simple directives should help you get your innovative enterprise on the same track as larger, failing companies. Whether you aspire to be the next Enron or WorldCom, or are simply working in your own innovative way to create a personal kingdom, remember the wise words of Fran Lebowitz, who said, “It's not whether you win or lose, it’s how you lay the blame.”

Dr. Janice Presser is CEO of The Gabriel Institute, which has created Role-Based Assessment: the completely new way to predict how someone will work on a team. She offers readers of Innovation America a 'no cost solution' for a hiring problem.  Contact her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .