How Several Teams within the Same Company Can Function as a Whole
In his book, The 17th Indisputable Laws of Teamwork, John C. Maxwell emphasizes the importance of teamwork and argues that working as part of the team is vital for the success of any project and business.
But team work can be perceived at two different levels: the team as a company, with several subdivisions working together to achieve profit, and the team as a small business or a department within a larger business, where individuals with separate responsibilities work together to ensure the efficiency and proper functioning of that small business or department within the larger business.
While it is easy to see why individuals members of the same team should get along and cooperate for the greater good, many employees and even members of the management fail to see why it is important for the various departments within the same business to cooperate and strive towards the same common end.
John C. Maxwell covers all these aspects related to teamwork, several of his 17 indisputable laws referring to it. Here are the five laws that are more representative for teamwork as collaboration between various departments within the same company.
- The Law of the Big Picture (2nd in Maxwell’s Book) – Each Individual and Each Subdivision Should See Beyond Their Basic Role
Many examples can be given to support this law. Let us consider the case of a goods manufacturer. The production department receives drawings, patterns, precise measurements and designs based on which they are supposed to manufacture the end products.
However, there are numerous cases when, starting from the existing designs, the production managers have succeeded to come up with new solutions, following the same principles and quality standards, but involving lower costs.
In a clothes factory for example, when new models are sent for mass production, they are usually accompanied by precise patterns and layouts for cutting the fabrics, meant to ensure that the minimum amount of fabric is used.
Many times, the cutting department succeeds to rearrange the patterns in such a way as to use even less fabric and obtain the products exactly as they were designed, but with lower initial costs. While these savings bring no immediate benefits for the cutting department, but may prove time consuming, they mean a lot for the clothes company, which can now produce the same clothes at lower costs or make more profit.
In the same line of thought, a customer service representative could easily invent some excuse or blame the reseller for the malfunction of the product a buyer complains about, rather than to replace the damaged component or spend hours on the phone with the buyer, troubleshooting the product, but, while doing so would save him some time and brainstorming, it would be in the detriment of the manufacturing company, as, on one hand, it would affect the reputation of the product and, on the other hand, it would chase resellers away.
However, in order for this law to be followed, it is important for each team member and company employee to receive proper training, to have the company goals clearly stated and to be taught how to pursue them, even in the detriment of his apparent direct interest.
- The Law of the Chain (5th in the Book) – A Team/Company Is as Strong as Its Weakest Link
Let us consider a manufacturing company as the chain, and its design, sales and customer service departments as the links. You could say that a well designed product is easy to sell or that it should not need servicing, but that is far from the truth.
You could have a great design, but poorly trained sales personnel, unable to emphasize its strength to the target customers. That is usually the result of a poor communication between the design and the sales department.
The developers of the end products should take the time to explain in detail how their creation works and how it can help the buyer, in order to make sure the sales representatives rely on accurate information and do not mislead the potential buyers.
Without adequate information and understanding of the design, the sales representatives will either fail to sell the product or will misinform the buyer and influence the company’s image in a negative way.
The communication between the two above mentioned departments and the customer service representatives is just as important, because, without accurate information and proper knowledge of the products’ particularities, the customer service representatives cannot help buyers solve their technical problems, which, in turn, will compromise the reputation of the company and make it more difficult for the sales representatives to close deals.
In a company, each individual and each team play their valuable part. Success leaves no room for error, miscommunication or weaknesses. All parts of the whole should fulfill their role and work together to close and sustain as many sales as possible and consolidate the company’s reputation.
- The Law of the Bad Apple (Maxwell’s no. 8) – The Team Can Be Ruined by Rotten Attitudes
This law is closely connected to the one discussed above. Just like a weak member brings about the weakness of the whole team, the improper attitude or behavior of one member of the team or department within a company will threaten or ruin the success of the whole company.
Teamwork leaves no room for envy or competition between the members. When that happens, the goals of the team as a whole are compromised. With an irresponsible or poorly managed designed department, it does not matter how effective the sales team or the customer representative team is, in the end, the buyers will hear about the poor concept behind the products they sell or troubleshoot and stop buying.
In the same line of thought, no matter how good a product is, if it is not marketed and serviced properly, it will never reach its potential as far as sales figures are concerned. Thus, instead of the design department trying to show that their work is more important than that of the sales representatives, or the customer service representatives trying to emphasize design problems where there are none, the parties should work as a team, with the purpose of manufacturing the best products, selling them in as high numbers as possible and servicing them as well as possible.
- The Law of Countability (no. 9) – Team Members and Company Departments Should Support One Another When the Need Arises
No matter how well organized a company is and how well trained and experienced its staff, bad, unpredicted things can always happen. The key to overcoming them and minimizing their effects is for the various departments within the company to be able to rely on one another and support one another when in need.
For example, by providing statistics of the various problems signaled by the buyers regarding the products manufactured by the company, the customer service department can help the design department improve the original concept and eliminate flaws.
- The Law of Identity (13 Is the Lucky Number) – A Team/Company Is Defined by the Values It Shares
Returning to the example above, the more values and goals the various departments within a company share, the better they work together and make that company prosper. This means that any company aiming to excel in its market niche should be built around a common set of values.
These values should make the core of the professional training in every team and department, no matter its specific, and should be more important than the immediate goals of that team or department.
Indeed, the design department is expected to come up with new, improved concepts regularly, the sales representatives are expected to enlarge the clients portfolio and the customer service representatives are expected to answer the buyer’s needs and questions.
However, when doing so, all these parties should keep in mind the long term, general goals, and not just their local targets, because:
- A new concept is no good if it cannot be turned into a useful and durable product,
- High sales in one month are no good if the customers are misinformed and end up regretting their acquisitions,
- Providing incomplete or inaccurate answers to the customers having problems with the products they bought is no good, if their problems persist and they cannot make the most of the products and recommend them to their connections.
Of course, there are other important laws among the 17 promoted by John C. Maxwell that can be applied at this level as well, like the Law of the High Morale, the Law of the Edge or the Law of Communication.
At a closer look, however, we notice that the laws are, in fact, various approaches or interpretations to the same basic idea: no matter if we talk about a small family business, a medium enterprise or a corporation, the key to success is teamwork, meaning communication and joined efforts for greater good.
Works Cited
Maxwell, John C. The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork: Embrace Them and Empower Your Team. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc., 2001.
