Building a Successful Team
Teamwork is essential in the pharma and biopharma industry. Here's how to create a winning combination of talent.
By Patrick B. Ropella
Ropella & Associates
What sets a great manager apart from the rest? Teambuilding skills. It’s no secret that in the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industry, teamwork is essential for all components of a project when it comes to meeting critical project schedules. However, teamwork may be even more important when it comes to moving your career up the corporate ladder. For most of us, accepting and managing teams doesn’t come naturally and many of us still assemble teams haphazardly with little understanding of what it takes to ensure success. How can we do better?
Take Some Advice from Geese
It may sound a bit unconventional, but perhaps we should take a few cues from Canada Geese. Their semi-annual migration is no easy trip. The journey, which can be thousands of miles, is far more strenuous than any single goose could endure. Yet, through evolution, geese have developed an incredible system of rotating leadership that enables them to reach their destination. By flying in “V” formation, each goose creates an upward air current for the bird immediately behind it. Some experts estimate the flock achieves 71 percent greater flying range than if each goose flew on its own!
As if all this cooperation wasn’t enough, the team of geese even has its own cheering section. During flight, those in the rear of the formation honk incessantly. It may be their way of announcing that they’re following and all is well. Or, they may take on the task of vocalization to relieve the burden from geese in the front (who have to work harder at flying). For sure, the repeated honks encourage the lead geese to stay at it. Whether it’s rotating, flapping, helping, or simply honking, the flock is in it together. Their natural team instinct enables them to accomplish what alone would be virtually impossible.
Teambuilding Essentials
There’s clear evidence that well-structured, well-managed teams can achieve significantly higher performance levels than individuals. As business people, we may not have the same natural instincts to work together that geese do, but we can certainly learn from their example. By following these helpful rules, the teams you bring together will accomplish great results.
1. Structure the Team Carefully
Imagine a football team consisting solely of excellent quarterbacks. Despite the individual talent level, they would still fail. An effective team needs people with different skills and personalities.
Hire People with the Right Personalities. Every team needs a leader, but they also require detail workers, influencers, coaches, and even cheerleaders. Not sure whether a person possesses a temperament complementary to your team? Consider using professionally developed personality assessments. Such assessments can give you insight into a person’s natural behavioral tendencies and preferred style of work—which can increase the likelihood of assembling a well-functioning team.
Focus on Positive Team Interaction. As the case of the geese illustrates, building a winning team is more than simply hiring the right people; it’s more about how they interact with each other. Team members need to be able to encourage one another in a positive, nurturing environment, and you, as the manager, are responsible for setting that tone within the group. One way to encourage positive interaction is to get your team members to go out to lunch as a group once a week. Events like these help to not only boost interpersonal communication, but they can give the team a chance to brainstorm more creative ideas in a non-work environment.
Keep Teams Small and the Structure Simple. Another way to help ensure the success of a team is to keep the team’s size small and the structure uncomplicated. The new trend in team-building is centered around the concept of a flat-structured team. In a flat-structure, each member has direct, lateral access to every other person on the team, including the team leader. This helps to eliminate the communication bottlenecks that often slow down progress for more conventional, hierarchical teams.
2. Get Buy-In
In order to get buy-in from your team, you must create a compelling vision. The project’s vision serves as the starting point and provides clarity by allowing people to evaluate their actions in terms of the vision. According to Karen Tran, author of How to Build a Winning Team (URL: http://goldsea.com/Career/ Team/team.html), “A compelling goal is one that everyone on the team would agree is worth attaining. One that is too modest isn't exciting and won't engage the emotions and get the team excited. One that is too ambitious would merely provoke skepticism and undue discouragement. Ideally the goal should be one that can be reached with consistent effort and enthusiasm.”
Remember that a vision must be worthy of commitment. Team members must see a personal benefit—the “what’s in it for me.” Finally, an effective vision is a shared one that fosters commitment rather than compliance.
3. Set Goals, Assign Responsibilities
No project can be successful unless you define goals and assign responsibilities. Here are some ideas to make sure each team member is aware of his or her goals and responsibilities:
Plan SMART. It may sound obvious, but to ensure critical goals are met, plan SMART—an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Acceptable, Realistic and Time-bound. Each task you assign should be SMART.
Have Some Flexibility. While it is important for each team member to have a clear understanding of his or her duties, be sure to have some flexibility. Try to capitalize on the natural talent of each team member, and allow some time for all the players to fit together in a natural way.
Accountability. Make sure team members understand that they will be held accountable. Define the rewards for success, as well as the consequences of failure.
4. Ensure Clear Communication
As a manager, it’s your job to share the vision, set goals, hold team members accountable, and diffuse obstacles. That requires effective communication—the art of speaking and listening skillfully (and encouraging others to do the same). Without communication, misunderstandings that threaten your team will surely emerge. Try these ideas to foster effective communication with and between team members:
Include In-Person Communication. Set up regular meetings. Too often in today’s fast-paced society people substitute electronic exchanges for dialog. While e-systems can greatly facilitate communication, they can’t completely replace human interaction—nor should they. To ensure that communication doesn’t get lost in the inbox, weekly, in-person, group meetings should be held. When dealing with teams, it is always beneficial to utilize a meeting agenda. This will ensure that the group stays on task, and all relevant topics are covered in a concise manner.
Look for Pitfalls. Among the most common pitfalls when dealing with team dynamics is cynicism. A pessimistic team member can be like a cancer eating away at the very core of your team. Keep on the lookout for destructive behavior, and immediately take steps to rectify any situations that may occur.
Be Candid. Give and ask for regular feedback. Publicly praise and reward accomplishments (deal with individual shortcomings privately). Encourage team members to challenge assumptions and suggest improvements.
Celebrate Successes. Even good teams can get so caught up solving problems and meeting project deadlines that they forget to enjoy themselves. Be sure to recognize both individual and team efforts consistently. Have a party when project milestones are successfully met, plan activities to recharge or refocus your team, and celebrate as a team when the project is finished.
Strength in Numbers. Flexibility and agility are essential for success in the highly competitive chemical market. That’s why good teams are critical—they can get more high quality work done in less time. By learning to assemble and maintain well functioning teams, you give your company or department advantages individuals can’t offer, no matter how talented. And in today’s ultra-competitive world, advantages like these can mean the difference between success and failure.
By working as a team, and focusing our collective resources on the results to be accomplished, we can develop creative solutions to our toughest challenges. And like the geese, our teamwork will allow us to successfully reach our final destination…together.
Patrick B. Ropella is president and CEO of Ropella & Associates. With 20 years of experience, Ropella & Associates is the leading international executive search consultancy specializing in the chemical and allied industries. Ropella & Associates focuses on mid-level management to executive-level retained searches in sales, marketing, manufacturing, and R & D. For more information about their services, visit www.ropella.com or call Patrick Ropella at (850) 983-4777.
