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The latest review of our ongoing teamwork survey\u2019s data shows the effect that the last decade, with its backdrop of global recession and increased use of \u2018social\u2019 technologies, has had on teams.<\/p>\nThe latest review of our ongoing teamwork survey\u2019s data shows the effect that the last decade, with its backdrop of global recession and increased use of \u2018social\u2019 technologies, has had on teams.<\/p>\n
Most organizations have changed significantly in that time and have needed to realign their business objectives. Companies are having to do more with less and are calling on teams to operate outside of their usual sphere of operation. Some of this seems to have been lost in translation to the front line: the proportion of people that truly understand the purpose of their team has declined steadily.<\/p>\n
When we are busy, we make less time to sit back and look at how the team is performing. While this approach may get the job done, it can affect long-term growth. If ignored, it can lead to stagnation and lack of innovation within an organization. We suspect that people are just getting on with it, without questioning what the \u2018it\u2019 is.<\/p>\n
The data also shows that there has been a progressive decrease<\/em> in the number of people that are clear about the objectives of their team, while at the same time, the size of teams has decreased by an average of two people.<\/p>\n This does not seem to have affected how people feel about working together – teams self-rating their teamwork as excellent has shown some improvement, probably because a reduction in numbers means everyone is having to work harder. More team members now state that they see their manager often enough. The increased availability and adoption of communications technologies which allow informal contact and rapid responses has almost certainly helped in this regard.<\/p>\n Some areas have seen little change over the last decade. The number of people within teams who think things are very wrong is around 5% and this has remained consistent. There will always be some within a team who are less engaged than others, yet HR practitioners and team managers could do well to use this as a benchmark to establish just how engaged their team members are.<\/p>\nKey data from the survey includes:<\/h3>\n