Your Seven Point Checklist for Successful Teamwork
I’ve spent my career working in teams. Clinical firms, high tech interventions in neonatal research units, lab groups, partnerships in NGO clinics and hospitals in Nepal and Bangladesh, academic collaborations in London, community partnerships for trials in the forests of Jharkhand and the slums of Mumbai in India, and in villages and townships covering two million people across Bangladesh, Malawi and Nepal. And, of course, with various teams across regions and levels of the World Health Organisation. I’ve made many mistakes, some repeatedly. But I’ve learned a lot, so here are seven ideas to think about that might help you in your work.
- Small is beautiful
A popular myth is that teams are most successful through assembly of the most talented individuals. The more the better. But that’s not the case — as Arsenal supporters will understand. Relative to their resources, the most successful teams in this season’s Premier and Championship football leagues were Burnley and Millwall, two small clubs who performed better than clubs with far more expensive squads. Why? Because solidarity, team spirit, continuity, values and a clear vision combined to defeat mercenary elites.
And in football a big squad can be a liability. Only eleven can play. So the other primadonnas fester as substitutes hoping their teammates will get injured. In our large community research trials, which covered up to half a million population, we had core leadership teams of no more than 15 people. Whenever we had our trimesterly team meetings to review progress at field sites our partners would bring together only ten to fifteen section heads for in-depth discussion, plus shorter interactions with key supervisors. Supervisors would, in turn, run their own similar teams and a hierarchy of groups would operate at every level. Some of our best team leaders were not the most academically talented individuals. But they knew how to facilitate a meeting, encourage, cajole, do diplomacy or help a worker with personal issues.
2. Teams need time.
The best mantra before you start building a team is to remember the circle of success — Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing. Through bitter experience I’ve learned that taking great care in personnel selection, and writing clear terms of reference, pays huge dividends when you form your team. Don’t rely on an interview. Give candidates an assessed task linked to the job they’ll perform. And get verbal feedback from previous employers. And please note, no team I’ve ever worked in has failed to storm. Storming manifests itself in many ways — arguments, sulks, petulance, indifference, rivalry and, worst of all, silence. Storming is normal but needs careful handling. Occasionally it can be explosive and lead to defection. But a good facilitator will provide a space for the team to talk through their issues and give a voice to everyone. Let the simmering, silent ones express their frustration. Jaw, jaw is better than war, war.
Talking things out does work. But this process of ‘norming’ requires time and patience. Above all, recognise that teams comprise individuals with different psychologies, backgrounds and expectations. Introverts and extroverts work in wholly different ways and you need both kinds of people in a team. For research work you might need more introverted task people than extrovert networkers. But there is no hard and fast rule.
So give teams time to settle and get through to the productive period of trusting and performance. Great football teams like Brazil 1970, Holland 1974, Argentina 1998, Barcelona under Pep Guardiola, Wenger’s Arsenal invincibles, Mourinho’s Chelsea and Manchester United under Ferguson took years to develop. And if you have solid dependables who deliver reliably you should value and revere them. Don’t be seduced by the flashy Carlos Kickaballs, in their Raybans, who will disrupt a stable team and take flight at the first whiff of a better offer.
3. Managed conflict
Agreement may be a sign of group think, the desire for conformity leading to dysfunctional decisions. That’s not good. It’s a problem when cohesion and loyalty override the sharing of accurate information. You need healthy debate and contrarian thinking, especially when planning and reviewing. Some leaders don’t like to be challenged. Wise leaders encourage dissent. Much of the success of the Trump boom can be put down to the former Fed Chair, Janet Yellen, who was praised by the Financial Times because
“in contrast with her predecessor, Alan Greenspan, Ms Yellen has run the Fed in a much more collegiate fashion. She was prepared to countenance dissent without it descending into cacophony and division.”
Away days are a chance to take stock and stimulate strategic rather than day-to-day discussion. But plan them well, don’t overload the agenda or limit time for open discussion, and make sure the whole team is present. Don’t accept excuses or naysayers who are too busy or who moan that Away days are a waste of time. If you have some money, or a favor to call in, bring an external facilitator to create an atmosphere where people can disagree in a friendly manner, without descent into animosity, abuse or blame. And help team members learn and practise how to give constructive rather than negative feedback. In low income settings, locals are often deferential to people from outside. Encourage them repeatedly to speak and disagree. They understand their culture and the local social and political environment best. Their perspective is invaluable.
4. Leadership amidst uncertainty
A new project requires a good launch, good coaching, and devolution — letting the team find their own local solutions for implementation. That doesn’t mean you hold a few discussions at the beginning, develop a plan and then expect a result three years later. A good leader is always available to listen to staff, to monitor progress carefully through planned reviews, and to offer support and encouragement. And things usually go off-track in the early stages so monitor progress intensively after you start. Stay flexible and encourage creative local solutions to complex problems.
In Nepal our local managers led research studies during a brutal civil war between Maoists and security forces, and in districts riven with ethnic mistrust, even within the field workers themselves. In Bangladesh political disturbances, hartals (strikes) and floods were routine. In India, managers in tribal projects had to avoid political and domestic violence. And in Malawi, food insecurity, crime, HIV and malaria were everyday challenges. In all settings scrupulous and diplomatic field managers faced corruption and political interference. And difficult conversations. One of my personal heroes, Bhim Shrestha, a senior manager in Nepal, had to walk for hours across the front line to meet separately with Maoist insurgents and army field units, both bristling with guns. Keeping calm, he would assess the feasibility of a women’s group meeting, a training session or the transport of wages along isolated mountain paths. He risked his life for the project.
And everywhere I’ve worked, teams have faced extraordinary obstacles — raging rivers, torrential rain, flooded roads, landslides and hailstorms — and the ever-present risk of malaria, diarrhea or other nasties like dengue and chikungunya.
5. Plan for success
Plan for everything. Learn about Results Frameworks. And Logical Frameworks. Debate and discuss. The protocol is everything, whether in research or policy implementation. Talk to statisticians. Agree on the outcomes and how to measure them, whether primary or secondary, quantitative or qualitative. Debate with everyone in the team in these crucial early stages and welcome outside criticism. Listen to local wisdom. Plans hatched in northern agencies or universities don’t account for local custom or constraint.
By the time you start a programme you want crystal clear goals, clear outputs and deliverables, agreed ways of monitoring progress and measuring success, adequate resources and support, political hurdles crossed, savvy diplomacy plans for troubleshooting, and regular review. And staff workloads must be realistic — ask too much and the quality will be poor. Ask too little and idle hands will be the devil’s tools. Expect them to moonlight.
6. Face-to-face
In person meetings are essential. Don’t depend upon telephone and Skype calls alone. Yes, teleconferences and video conferences can be useful but you’ll miss the raised eyebrows, the taut body language, the sniggers and the mood music in the room. For international projects this raises the thorny issue of carbon footprint. In our early trials in Nepal and Bangladesh I expected to travel for a team review every 4–6 months. With strong local leadership and project fellows on site, travel can be reduced, but the early decisions are critical and if you want to move forward from storm clouds to the sunshine of performance, you need to be there.
7. Celebrate and have fun
I learnt a lot from our partners who arranged parties for staff birthdays and weddings, breakfasts and lunches at staff meetings, and gave awards and certificates to their fieldworkers and drivers.
And when a project was over, it wasn’t just about the statistical significance or otherwise of the primary outcome. When our team fed back results to community meetings in Nepal, after the peace treaty, one Maoist commander stood up and said “We were fools and donkeys. We gave you so much ‘dukha’ (trouble) but now we understand the programme we shall support you with everything.” In Odisha, India, a smart state Administrative Officer, Arti Ahuja, who later became secretary of health, was so impressed by the Ekjut team she took their ideas into her state programme and, over the next three years, scaled up more than 100,000 community groups. In Mumbai, Nayreen Daruwalla David Osrin and the local SNEHA team devised an art festival, the Dharavi Biennale, based on shanty town creativity, and achieved international acclaim in the world’s press. In Malawi, the local team organised community photographic and art exhibitions, their own radio shows, and a huge fair where the local MP, traditional leaders and 2000 villagers celebrated their achievements with music and dance. And in Bangladesh, they focused on scale through clever liaison with politicians, Ministries, universities, BRAC and the Bangladesh Diabetic Association with it’s nationwide reach to 52 districts.
These events were diplomacy, celebration and fun, all rolled into one. Teams took great pride in their achievements and community relevance. And back in London and Geneva, I made absolutely sure that hard-working colleagues and research fellows were recognised for their tremendous work — maybe a successful PhD viva, the landing of a mega-grant or an acclaimed paper. Usually I bought them a cappuccino. Occasionally I splashed out on a chocolate biscuit or brownie.
