Sometimes, clients tell me that their team members aren’t working together and they can’t work out what to do about it. One of the reasons is that the team members don’t see any reason to work together. It may in fact be that they don’t believe they really need to be a team.

In their book entitled ‘Do You Really Need a Team?‘ Michael E. Kossler & Kim Kanaga say that teams often run counter to an organisation’s culture and reward structures, and that these challenges can prevent teams from achieving their full potential.

I see this reflected in many situations. For example, if you have a team of sales managers who all carry out similar work but are rewarded only on their individual performances, you will find it hard to convince them of the need to work together. True teams need to be able to identify their interdependencies; if they can’t do that they are not teams but workgroups, according to Kossler and Kanaga.

So consider what it is you need – a team or a workgroup – and how you will build structures that support an interdependent team.