Self-Directed Teams: Rubbish or Advantage?

July 9th, 2013

The idea of self-directed teams is not new. It has been used for decades. Why would anyone want this? Does this work for everyone? How is it implemented? Is the traditional hierarchical model bad?

Hierarchical model

The desire to have self-directed teams come from various frustrations that the traditional model generates. Employees do not like to be micro-managed. If they see a more efficient or pleasant way to accomplish the exact same result, they do not want a supervisor to tell them that it's wrong and that they should do exactly as they're told. The traditional model breaks a process down into individual steps and assigns isolated tasks to team members, preventing any sense of accomplishment. This creates silos, repetitiveness and boredom. As a consequence, motivation goes down along with efficiency and loyalty. This in turn infuriates the management that seeks to increase control even further. But that cycle can be broken.

Self-directed model

This model has both advantages and disadvantages. Because the team no longer has somebody managing them each day, members have freedom of methodology as long as they can deliver the promised results. They can now organize their own time. This means more empowerment and motivation. Management not only benefits from increased efficiency, but also the team can now solve its own problems without exterior involvement.

On the other hand, these teams are hard to establish. Team members require a strong commitment to the company or this will not work. You will also have to invest in initial and ongoing training. Team members will have to learn management, decision making and problem solving skills. They must also understand the job of other members. Not everybody has the capacity or experience to make tough decisions. Not everybody can have a business perspective. Not everybody is willing to be held accountable for results or mistakes. Conflict resolution can be difficult in such teams and it is important to have exterior support in such situations.

The best of both

Interdependence and accountability are characteristics that are shared with light teams, also called agile. But these teams are not necessarily self-directed. In reality, the problems in all teams arise from applying any model without applying common sense. You want your people to be motivated and efficient? That's easy.

They have to be result-driven. As a project manager, stop worrying about methodology, control or silly timesheets. Focus on results. You can't ask your people to be pragmatic if you are not, and if you're watching and judging their every step. Make sure that everyone understands the job of other team members and report to each other rather than reporting only to you. Don't split tasks with strict boundaries because you want interdependence and accountability to flourish. Above all, apply your common sense rather than following a work methodology religiously. See what works best for your team and build on these strengths.

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