"If you can't feed a team with two pizzas, it's too large."
Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO
Marcus, an IT Director, was excited to start a team devoted exclusively to reducing the time customers must wait to have their technology issues resolved. His first thought was to make this team as inclusive as possible so that many in the department had their voices heard and would feel special about belonging to this team. He even considered inviting one person on to the team as a substitute for having to give them a pay raise.
So, Marcus went about handpicking eighteen talented leaders in his department of fifty employees. He believed all of these collective brains on one team would surely find the best solution to reducing customers' wait time. As Marcus started his first team meeting, he wanted to make sure that everyone had a chance to give their opinions on the root cause of the problem and where to begin changing the process. As each person spoke, Marcus realized they were really just using their time to protect their area and pass the blame of wait time onto others. No one was asking deeper questions of why the current system was designed the way it was.....
He also realized that getting everyone's voice heard with this large of a group was time consuming. One hour into the meeting and only half the group had a chance to talk. Marcus began to question his beliefs about how teams should be formed and he even began to doubt his leadership abilities as new members of his team began looking at their watches wondering if anything would be resolved with this team. So where did Marcus go wrong?
In this day of employee empowerment, aren't we suppose to include as many voices/opinions as possible so that decisions are more inclusive and therefore easier to implement?
Well, yes and no.....
Yes in the fact that the more people who have input into a decision the more likely any changes made by that decision will be readily accepted. And no in the fact that Marcus created a team that was too large. An effective team is composed of the following:
"A small group of people with a common goal that holds each other mutually accountable in achieving that goal."
What defines small? Typically a group between four and twelve members. This does not mean a team of three members or thirteen members will fail. On the low end, I believe a team of four w may be more effective by offering slightly more diverse thinking. It really comes down to the purpose of the team. If you are a small company and only have two or three people to solve a problem then this is the right number. One participant I had in my teambuilding workshop asked how this small number is possible when a football team can have sixty players with the common goal of winning games and they hold each person mutually accountable.
In the world of sports, a team may have a large number of members but you will notice that each person on a football team is not being asked how to reduce customer wait time in a process. A sports team member tries out for a position on a team that may need many players without needing to reach consensus on how to score a goal.
In the world of work, teams must have the time to dialogue and problem solve by asking probing questions and not just making statements that protect their departments. Whenever I see teams get larger than twelve members, I often hear a member use the phrase, "I want to call the question." Using this phrase means the member has resorted to Robert's Rules of Order to reel a group back to making a decision. Robert's Rules were created to help large groups make decisions faster and should not be used on a problem solving team.
Question for You:
Do you find yourself leading a group of people that is too large? Are decisions hard to reach and discussion limited to a few dominant members? Do you find yourself on a team with too many members? Do you dread going to these meetings because nothing really gets accomplished as decisions are too hard to reach without a formal vote?
Answer for You:
Begin by asking how you might gain input on the team without adding to the membership of the team. When choosing members for a team, look to those that have the right knowledge and expertise to solve the problem and may have the greatest impact by the decisions that the team makes. Once these members are asked to join have them reach out to others to gain more input to bring to the meetings. Keep your teams between four and twelve members and you will begin to see more time spent asking crucial questions of the problem issues which will ultimately create the best solutions.
"There's nothing wrong with staying small. You can do big things with a small team."
Jason Fried, 37signals founder
