Building a Culture
of Teamwork
Some Practical Strategies for
Determined Leaders
A Presentation for the RMH Social
Services Retreat
Kendall L. Stewart, M.D.
November 30, 2005
Why is this important?
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Most of us want to work in an
organizational culture that
encourages teamwork, produces
exceptional results and fosters
personal and professional pride.
But real teamwork at work is fairly
rare.
To committed cynics, the whole
notion of teamwork is nonsense.
To the aimless, a tolerable drudgery
is the most one can hope for at work.
But for a few, real teamwork is
achievable, exceptional performance
is possible and a sense of meaning
and purpose can be achieved.
The passionate architects of a
culture of teamwork—and those
willing to join them in that quest—
this presentation is for them.
• After mastering the information
in this presentation, you will be
able to
– Identify three of the typical
barriers to building and
sustaining a culture of
teamwork,
– Describe three practical
strategies for creating a culture
of teamwork,
– Explain why it makes sense to
deploy one of these strategies,
and
– Detail how to do it
• For most of us teamwork is the
difference between work and
vocation, between a job and a
career and between just getting
by and making a difference.1,2,3
What are some of the typical
a culture of teamwork?
barriers
to
• Leaders who need to be loved
• Leaders who avoid conflict
• Leaders who are unwilling to take
risks1,2
• Leaders who have thin skin
• Leaders who are reluctant to take
responsibility for organizational
culture
• Leaders who don’t set an example
• Leaders who cannot follow others.
• Leaders who are unwilling to
extrude “net-negative” leaders
• Leaders who delegate too quickly
• Leaders who micromanage
• Leaders. Duh.
What are some of the practical strategies for
creating a culture of teamwork?
• Make an informed
commitment.1,2
• Become passionately engaged
yourself.*
• Select an effective champion.
• Empower the zealots.
• Develop a comprehensive plan.
• Launch and sustain an enabling
process.
• Clarify behavioral expectations.
• Extrude “net-negative” leaders
• Bait and set emotional hooks.
• Face reality.3
• Make a compelling case for
cultural change.
• Study and adopt best practices.
• Set goals that only teams can
reach.*
• Field the best possible teams.*
• Focus on performance, not
teamwork.
• Measure things that matter.
• Make up your mind to
eventually achieve and sustain
90th percentile performance.
• Monitor your progress
continuously.
• Celebrate incremental progress.
• Anticipate “poop out.”
*Become passionately
• Why should you?
– You cannot engage others
if you are not engaged.
– You cannot fake passion.
– Without passion you
cannot sustain the effort
required.
– Unless you are personally
engaged, everyone will
perceive you as
disengaged.
– It’s more fun than
watching from the
sidelines.
engaged yourself.
• How can you?
– Let your feelings show.
– Risk infection from other
passionate leaders.
– Propose, sell and lead the
implementation of a new
project or service.1,2,3
– Volunteer to lead a
process improvement
team.
– Find and share the
teamwork stories that
move you.
*Set
goals that only teams can reach.
• Why should you?
– Goals that are individually
unachievable naturally
encourages teamwork.1,2,3
– Laudable goals are hard to
dismiss as unworthy.
– Goals create an energizing
discomfort.
– Most people will agree that
having a goal is good and that
performance excellence is
desirable.
– Meaningful goals create common
ground.
– Adopting a tough goals brings
out the competitive spirit in
most of us.
– Most of us want to feel proud of
our achievements.
• How can you?
– Set specific, measurable goals.
– Focus on goals that matter.
– Find out what your colleagues
are measuring.
– Limit the number of goals to
minimize data fatigue.
– Display performance data
everywhere.
– Update the data as frequently as
is practical.
– Celebrate every indication of
progress.
*Field the best possible teams.
• Why should you?
– Playground realities are
often ignored in the
workplace.
– Few organizations are
composed entirely of stars,
but most organizations have
at least a few.
– This strategy rewards the
stars and discourages the
sneering slackers.
– Merely deploying this
painful strategy will
jumpstart your effort.
– Your courage will encourage
other leaders to follow suit.
• How can you?
– Recognize and embrace this
obligation.1,2,3
– Announce your intention.
– Invite input, but reserve the
final decision.
– Think of yourself as a
winning coach instead of a
camp counselor.
– Stop worrying about keeping
everybody happy.
– Select for ability and
attitude, not just ability.
– Aim for discomfort, not
comfort.
What have you learned?
• Most of us long to work and serve in an
organizational culture of teamwork.
• But creating and sustaining such a culture is
much harder than it sounds.
• It is not about everybody being nice to each
other.
• It is about performance.
• It is about setting goals that only teams can
achieve.
• And it is finally about the painful price each of
us is willing to pay—and keep on paying.1,2,3
Where can you learn more?
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Go to
http://www.somc.org/NRSOMCPress/Presentations.h
tm to review and download this presentation.
Katzenbach, Jon R. and Smith, Douglas K., The
Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-Performance
Organization, Harvard Business School Press, 1992
Parker, Glenn M., Team Players and Teamwork,
Jossey-Bass, 1996
Schein, Edgar H. The Corporate Culture Survival
Guide, Jossey-Bass, 1999
Stewart, KL, et. al., A Portable Mentor for
Organizational Leaders, SOMCPress, 2003
Stewart, Kendall L., “Relationships: Building and
Sustaining the Interpersonal Foundations of
Organizational Success” SOMCPress White Paper,
SOMCPress, March 11, 2002
Please visit www.KendallLStewartMD.com to download related White Papers and presentations.
How can you contact me?
Kendall L. Stewart, M.D.
VPMA and Chief Medical Officer
Southern Ohio Medical Center
President & CEO
The SOMC Medical Care Foundation, Inc.
1805 27th Street
Portsmouth, Ohio 45662
740.356.8153
[email protected]
[email protected]
www.somc.org
www.KendallLStewartMD.com
What questions remain?
www.somc.org
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