Self-Managed Teams

Self-managed teams are exactly what they sound like: teams that manage themselves to accomplish a certain task. In the course of both my undergrad and now my masters, self-managed teams have been addressed on a number of occasions. The linked video will offer some insight into the benefits of such teams but as for me, I don't need much more convincing.

It should come as no surprise to my professors and maybe the one non-professor that reads this blog that I am fan of Complex Adaptive Leadership. At its core CAL seeks to minimize managerial input and states that teams with defined boundaries and goals will produce the best possible outcome though it may not be the result that was desired for. This video demonstrates complexity theory as it applies to leadership in a succinct manner. More on the concept can be found here as well. There is more to the concept than I have written here otherwise an entire course at Embry-Riddle would not have been devoted to it. I bring CAL as it is a type of self-managed team and does more to crystallize the dynamics that occur between people than simply saying that managers need to get out of the way because that isn't the case.

A self-managed team does well when it has defined goals and a boundary in which to work. A team sorting out the best widget doesn't need to be tinkering around in marketing though in some cases it may be useful for marketing to know what fantastic things the widget people are doing. So if our widgets aren't functioning in an appropriate widget fashion our widget team doesn't need a manager directing all their actions. Instead the manager says, "our widgets are not widgety enough and I need you guys to fix it" The manager then may set a few boundaries such as budgetary constraints or materials available and then the manager gets out of the way. Or, in some cases, the self-managed team has flexible leadership where leadership is shared depending on the task at hand. When the team is working on the flux capacitor portion of the widget the flux capacitor girl is a nominal lead, when the problem moves to ensuring the widget, with its functioning flux capacitor, can make tasty espresso the espresso guy takes over and provides some direction. These are not assigned leadership roles but more the team making the best use of its potential.

The benefits of such teams is that they are efficient and will often solve problems in creative ways. Where they can be difficult is if the personnel involved are not comfortable working in a team or if the team gets stuck in a state of development like storming. These are mostly personality conflicts and given time many can be overcome. Time-sensitive actions may not be best handled by a self-managed team that is not established. In essence, you have to develop the team as an entity and then worry about the problems it will solve. Such an approach is very difficult for managers as they often have their own set of pressures to which they need to attend. Also, managers must learn to manage less and provide more support. Lastly, a manager must learn to trust the team's results. All of these things are easier to type than they are to do.

My work unit is largely self-managed though we do get directed around a bit at times; mostly on time sensitive or crisis issues. For the most part though, we are free to accomplish task as we see fit. I sometimes go along on things that aren't in my assigned duties simply because we function better as a team and just by being there we can help each other. It also doesn't hurt that I may learn something new!

Self-managed teams are great at finding creative solutions to problems and managers should develop a healthy trust for these teams. All in all I enjoy working with the team with whom I work. I was hired as much for my personality as I was my skills and that is something that managers will need to develop in themselves...how to interview for personality and learn to trust that the skills can follow. To be sure a baseline knowledge must be there as well as education but a manager can throw a rock and find a human resources specialist or an accountant. For that matter, none of us are really irreplaceable. It may be more difficult to find a skilled surgeon or an astrophysicist but such specialized skills are a league of their own. For most of us it is more how we work with each other that determines the outcome of our work and that is something that successful leaders understand.