More on Henry Tam

As I continue to review the Henry Tam case I discovered a wonderful article written by Beck and Yeager. According to the authors teams pass through various stages on their way to productivity: forming, focusing, performing, and leveling. Forming is basically team members meeting and greeting. To work well, the team should clarify its work and establish rules for how the team will function. In focusing, the teams formulate and clarify goals and objectives. This phase can be a short phase if a clear purpose is provided through leadership. Once everyone knows what is to be accomplished the team moves to performing. In performing, the work is divided and team members begin. It is here that Beck and Yeager make an important point, namely that much teamwork is not performed as a team. Much is done by individuals and then combined with the work of others, and in a non-collaborative manner. Without regular meetings to keep team members focused on goals, to check progress, and solve problems, inertia may set in a leveling stage. Leveling occurs when efforts stagnate. Clearly, in my mind the MGI team has hit its inertia and is in the leveling stage simply because the team bypassed the focusing stage. Leadership is needed to guide the team through focusing.