Leading self-organised teams

What does it take for self-organisation to work?

For self-organisation to work, three things must be in place:

• Clarity of purpose and objectives
• Entrepreneurial necessity
• Trust

Clarity of purpose or the question of "what"

The "what" answers the question of focus. In other words, it clarifies what the goal or result of the work should be.

• What do we want to achieve as a team / as a company?
• What entrepreneurial contribution do we want to make as a team / division?
• How can the success of our work be measured?

The clarity of objectives is crucial to ensuring that resources are used in a targeted manner and that decisions can be prioritised and made in line with the achievement of objectives. The clearer the goal, the greater the chance that self-organised work will lead to the desired results.

Who should create clarity of purpose?

I am sometimes asked by managers whether they should set the targets or whether the future self-organised teams should be allowed to work on them?

That is why I would like to emphasise at this point:

It is the task of managers to ensure that goals are clear and that everyone in the company has the same idea of these goals. Of course, the path to this goal clarity should be a shared one. After all, if the goals are worked out together, they are generally more widely accepted.

Entrepreneurial necessity or the question of "why"

The "why" is about categorising the goals in the business context.

• Why do we want to achieve this in particular?
• Why is this aspect crucial for us as a team/company?
• Why is it essential that we achieve goal A in period x?

If these questions are answered clearly, the motivation behind the goals becomes clear. If this is not strong enough, this gives reason to scrutinise the goals again.

The aim of the "why" should be to inspire people for the "what" and enable the further development of the "what". The "why" is the driver. It ensures motivation and commitment. The "why" creates a common drive and ensures that like-minded people work together.

Trust at various levels

Trust is the third key component in the management of self-organised teams. This trust must exist on various levels:

Trust in the "what"

For self-organised work to take shape, it is important that everyone involved is passionate about the agreed goals. Only then will they be able to overcome difficulties or obstacles together. Only if there is trust in the "what" will there be a willingness to get to the bottom of problems, endure conflicts and hold controversial discussions in order to develop solutions to problems that arise.

This trust must be exemplified by managers. Conversely, this means that if managers have doubts about the objectives, it becomes much more difficult to lead self-organised teams.

It also means that changing goals is once again a joint process.

Trust of managers in the teams

The next level of trust from leaders is trust in the teams and their capabilities. Only with this trust will leaders let go and give permanent space to self-organised work. Therefore, it is central to look closely at who fits together and harmonises in the cooperation. The players in the game are once again gaining in importance.

In my work, I find that many managers find it difficult to let go. One reason for this is that they themselves are experts in the field. On the other hand, the change in their leadership role when introducing self-organised teams is often insufficiently considered. Letting go and transferring responsibility to the teams is a prerequisite for teams to accept and fulfil this responsibility.

This process of changing roles and responsibilities should be accompanied by an experienced organisational developer so that any conflicts that arise can be recognised, verbalised and resolved directly.

What is the responsibility of the teams?

The responsibility of the teams comprises three central points:

• Development and implementation of the strategy (path to the goal)
• Definition of internal team roles and responsibilities
• Definition of work organisation framework conditions such as communication channels, decision-making processes, holidays, holiday replacements, documentation of information

What can a path towards self-organisation of teams look like?

1. Create framework conditions (see question 1)
2. Form teams that work together in a spirit of trust
3. Train teams with regard to communication and decision-making processes in team structures (e.g. through training in the consensus process)
4. Being a sparring partner on the way to the goal
5. Continuously strengthen trust, also through regular constructive feedback and sincere appreciation of successes

Let me go into more detail on points 2, 4 and 5.

Form teams that work together in a spirit of trust

In order for teams to be able to organise themselves with as little conflict as possible, it is important that cooperation is supported by a stable basis of trust. It is the task of managers to support the teams in building this trust. To this end, it is advisable to regularly provide space for team development away from day-to-day business.

What should you pay attention to when putting together a team?

• Good personal fit of the team members
• Complementary technical expertise
• A sufficiently large value cut-off quantity
• Diversity of personalities with their different experiences, perspectives and values
• Solid conflict management skills to be able to argue in favour of the best solution without damaging trust

Being a sparring partner on the way to the goal

In order for teams to gain confidence in their own abilities, it is important that they are sparring partners for the strategy developed by the teams, especially at the beginning of this new organisational model. They do this before the strategy is implemented by asking the following questions:

• How do you proceed?
• Why did you choose this path?
• What are the advantages of proceeding in this way?
• What could be stumbling blocks?
• How do you deal with it?

By scrutinising the procedure, wanting to understand the thoughts and considerations behind it, making the advantages and disadvantages as well as stumbling blocks and alternative solutions transparent, you also help to ensure that the path developed can lead to success. And success is crucial for developing confidence in new approaches.

In the case of teams that get lost in overflowing discussions and in the search for the perfect path and fail to implement it, it is also the task of the manager to give them space to try things out.

• Is the path/solution good enough for now?
• Is the route/solution safe enough to try it out?
• When should we look at it again to check whether the route/solution still works without restrictions?

The enemy of self-organised work is the desire for perfection from the first second. Say goodbye to perfection!

Continuous feedback

To help teams develop, managers should provide regular feedback and facilitate the exchange of lessons learnt. Below are some sample questions that help to verbalise the "lessons learned":

Collect positives:

• What did we do differently this time?
• With what effect?
• What went well?
• What can we be proud of?
• What did we do well?
• What made us more productive this time?

Identify potential for improvement:

• What could have gone better?
• What sometimes led to frustration?
• What has hindered our productivity?
• What problems have arisen?
• What mistakes have we made?

Change ways of acting:

• What specifically needs to be changed to remove these obstacles?
• What should we do differently so that the frustration no longer occurs?
• What can we change so that we notice sooner that we are on the wrong track?
• …

Entrepreneurial benefits of self-organised teams

Managers who successfully accompany their teams on the path to self-organisation create concrete business benefits. These include

• The entrepreneurial thinking and behaviour of every employee is increasing. The willingness to take responsibility for achieving entrepreneurial goals is increasing.
• Self-confidence and team confidence grow significantly. This increases the willingness to co-operate.
• Decisions are made more quickly where they are needed, increasing the agility of companies.

In order to remain capable of acting and competitive in uncertain and rapidly changing times, self-organised teams are increasingly a must.