Page 24 - HME Business, June 2018

BUILDING A WINNING TEAM
Four steps that will help you eliminate dysfunction, foster trust,
and get groups of disparate individuals to come together for the big win.
By Mona Sabah Earnest
I HAVE A CONFESSION TO MAKE: I live in Oklahoma and I don’t under- stand sports. I know what you are thinking: In a state that lives, eats and breathes sports, that kind of declaration borders on outright heresy!
In fact, that might be true of the entire nation. I have come to realize that just about every state in the Union supports their teams and idolizes their players. As someone who came to the United States as an immigrant, this is very foreign to me.
However, my husband tells me that I cannot play the “immigrant card” anymore since I am a bona fide U.S. citizen and have been for a few decades. I think that there are things that become the fabric of your very being and sports is just not one of those things. Granted, being married 25 years to a sports fanatic can rub off just a bit. He has tried to teach me the nuances of the football gridiron, the basketball court and the base- ball diamond from morning ‘till night, but to no avail — I still don’t get it-
I still remember my shock when my boss at the Campbell Soup Co. in Sacramento, Calif. told me that I was the one chosen by the execu- tive team to lead the implementation of a High Performance Teams program at the manufacturing plant. I think I stared at him with my mouth open and told him that I didn’t understand teams because I didn’t understand sports. I’m sure that tickled him because he said, “well ... those aren’t the only types of teams.”
My job became to research what he meant by all of that; how exactly does one go about implementing work teams in a plant with approximately 1,500 employees? It doesn’t happen overnight, that’s for sure! Moreover, what I discovered surprised me.
WHAT MAKES A TEAM?
In sports, you need specific numbers: a baseball team needs nine people, and a soccer team needs at least 11. However, in business — whether it’s an HME provider or any type of company — teams aren’t always a set number of people. You could have a group of three or as large as 15. The size often depends on the purpose of the team (sales, project management, natural work team, etc.). Evan Wittenberg from the Wharton Graduate Leadership program found
“How does a random group actually develop into a high-performing team? Do you have to put people through a ropes course an get them jump off a platform into people’s arms? Is there an easier way?”
24 HMEBusiness | June 2018 | hme-business.com
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