“What matters the most?” is a question that plagues the minds of many employers as well employees during the hiring process. To derive a competitive edge, firms need to attract talented people on one hand, add business opportunities on the other. To achieve this, they need people who are able to work with teams, have strong interpersonal skills and are able to communicate and influence others across levels, functions and culture in a sensitive manner. We co-exist in a world of meritocracy and not mediocrity. A professional cannot expect to be appraised based solely on technical knowledge and work output. Being equipped with a considerable amount of soft skills is vital today. The difference between soft skills and hard skills is that soft skills are transferable skills necessary at every domain, while hard skills are confined to a particular domain. Hard skills stress on what you say, not how you say it: in contrast soft skills emphasis on how you say and not on what you say. Most recruiters feel that soft skills cannot be imparted unlike hard skills that can be imbibed over a period of time. Nowadays close attention is paid during the hiring process to a person's ability to work in a team, lead projects independently, work collaboratively and communicate well. Every individual has various elements in their personality and there is nothing good or bad about that, it is about how they manage in a professional environment and fit in with the softer requirements of a job. With the organisational environment likely to remain unstable and turbulent, the flexibility and adaptability created by teams is a significant advantage. In fact, teamwork is bound to replace hierarchy as the dominant form of organisation in the twenty first century. Like it or not, everyone who works for a living is helping create a new relationship between individual and corporation, and a new sense of employer and employee. Businesses of the future will be organised somewhat like a movie production company. Teams of specialists will come together for a specific project and then move on into other teams in the same or other organisations. Key to the success of this approach is the understanding that managers must share both power and responsibility with teams of people who were once disempowered by the rigid bureaucratic lines of authority. The downsizing (rightsizing?) of many corporations, creating flatter organisations with fewer middle managers available to manage in the traditional hierarchical manner, has forced organisations to more fully empowered members into the teams. The emphasis will be on people skills. Even those managers designated leaders will need to learn how to follow the team: A team is not like a herd, with one being the leader. It is more like a flight of wild geese: The leader always changes, but they fly in a flock. The team phenomenon is particularly suited to the era of information technology and globalisation. Information highways and networks connect teams from all over the globe, facilitating the exchange of information and creative ideas. Global alliances create new opportunities to use multinational teams to develop cooperation and creative exchange. Global alliances will seem like “standard operating procedure” in the next century as multinational teams create new ventures for an exciting future. Over many years of work in the field of communication, I came up with what I would call some un-commonsense findings about teams: Companies with strong performance standards seem to spawn more “real teams” than companies that promote teams per se 2. High-performance teams are extremely rare. 3. Hierarchy and teams go together almost as well as teams and performance 4. Teams naturally integrate performance and learning. 5. Teams are the primary unit of performance for increasing members of organisations. You want to “team” with that? Write me your thought/experience on the matter, and see it here next week. Watch that spot! Attar, an independent management consultant and organisation development authority, delivers seminars in the US, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Far East.email: [email protected]
