Pillars of SCRO

The various strongholds that give a strong footrest to the team’s internal work structure, morale and efficiency.

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“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” — Henry Ford

So. What do we mean by the neologism ‘Pillars of SCRO’?

When we say ‘Pillars of SCRO’, we are referring to the unique set of organisational experiences that have shaped us together, in a dynamic fashion, as one coherent and interconnected team. We refer to the organic and spontaneous vital pathways, channels, and expectation as well as performance protocols that construct and have evolved as a result of a vibrant dynamic within the team.

Quite simply, we refer to the set of unique intra-team features that let us navigate obstacles, take a solid stance to roadblocks, and understand and make sense of the hurdles thrown at us.

In this piece, let us look at some of the aspects of what distinguishes an agile team with a strong cross-team meshwork, and what sets apart a team that has a strong set of underlying principles and shared values that help us work with resilience and enterprise.

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One of the primary backbones of a team’s versatile and adaptive approach to new problems is the manner in which its members, or sub-domains, let the informational and task workflow process amongst themselves — how responsive they are, and how aware and aligned everyone else is with the general direction in which encapsulated tasks, as well as the larger driving purpose throughout them, is going. And this does not necessarily entail that there has to be some bifurcation in terms of hierarchical access to the overall picture, since it is all-the-more critical and pivotal to a team’s long-term success as well as how it projects its strategic mission goals into the future.

“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” — Andrew Carnegie

As we traverse further, we’ll look briefly at the various ways in which the team operates and informally falls back on more often than not. There is a grassroots system in which work is executed within the team, and that’s done through active participation and mindful and systematic laid out involvement from the various branches and subdivisions of the team. How SCRO works intrinsically as a single entity while having within its folds lots of domains and interrelated members coordinating and parallel-processing various tasks, there is a certain dictated modicum of understood work ethic we all seem to share.

Let us delve into a few fragmented abstractions of the same.

‘You can invent alone, but you can’t innovate alone.’

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• The team understands the goals and is committed to attaining them. This clear direction and agreement on mission and purpose are essential for effective teamwork. Team members must have an overall mission that is agreed upon and that provides the umbrella for all that the team tries to do. This team clarity is reinforced when the organization has clear expectations for the team’s work, goals, accountability, and outcomes.
• The team creates an environment in which people are comfortable taking reasonable risks in communicating, advocating positions, and taking action. Team members trust each other. Team members are not punished for disagreeing.
• Communication is open, honest, and respectful. People feel free to express their thoughts, opinions, and potential solutions to problems. People feel as if they are heard out and listened to by team members who are attempting to understand. Team members ask questions for clarity and spend their thought time listening deeply rather than forming rebuttals while their coworker is speaking.
• Team members have a strong sense of belonging to the group. They experience a deep commitment to the group’s decisions and actions. This sense of belonging is enhanced and reinforced when the team spends the time to develop team norms or relationship guidelines together.
• Team members are viewed as unique people with irreplaceable experiences, points of view, knowledge, and opinions to contribute. After all, the purpose of forming a team is to take advantage of the differences. Otherwise, why would any organization approach projects, products, or goals with a team? In fact, the more that a team can bring out divergent points of view, that are thoughtfully presented and supported with facts as well as opinions, the better.
• Creativity, innovation, and different viewpoints are expected and encouraged. Comments such as, “We already tried that and it didn’t work” and “what a dumb idea” are not allowed or supported.
• The team is able to constantly examine itself and continuously improve its processes, practices, and the interaction of team members. The team openly discusses team norms and what may be hindering its ability to move forward and progress in areas of effort, talent, and strategy.
• The team has agreed-upon procedures for diagnosing, analyzing, and resolving teamwork problems and conflicts. The team does not support member personality conflicts and clashes nor do team members pick sides in a disagreement. Rather, members work towards the mutual resolution of problems and disagreements.
• Participative leadership is practised in leading meetings, assigning tasks, recording decisions and commitments, assessing progress, holding team members accountable, and providing direction for the team.
• Members of the team make high-quality decisions together and have the support and commitment of the group to carry out the decisions made.

Hope that was an enjoying read and a fulfilling experience.