Lessons From Congress – A Team of Teams?
By Michael Wilkinson, CMF
Managing Director, Leadership Strategies, Inc.
Have you been as concerned as I have about the way Congress seems to operate? Do all the bickering, posturing, stalemates, and long-jams make you want you to yell, “Get a facilitator!”
I am personally looking forward to the time when every President’s administration has a cadre of facilitators they use to get to quicker decisions with greater level of buy-in and support. I believe, however, that the issue with Congress is structural. Let me explain by way of an example.
We often do work for government agencies that have multiple divisions. The leadership team of the agency tends to be made up of the heads of each of the divisions along with the leader of the agency and several other key people in the agency. In theory, each division head would lead a team of people, and the leadership team would then be the “team of teams.” However, this is seldom the case. More often than not, instead of being a “team of teams,” the leadership team can be best characterized as “a group of teams,” essentially a group of people with their own agendas, no common goal, nor anything else for them to commonly achieve. Instead, each division does it own thing, each division has its own goals, and often, together, they compete against one another for resources.
The way we tend to address these “group of teams” phenomena is to establish a common vision for the organization, a common set of goals and objectives, and a set of agreed upon priority strategies. Each leader then has responsibility for leading the achievement of one or more of the organization’s goals. And a key component of the success of each individual is based on the success of the team.
When we do this well, the result is that divisions begin sharing resources so that the full agency does a better of achieving its agreed upon goals.
Now let’s turn back to Congress. Is this a team of teams or a group of teams? Do the members of Congress have a common set of agreed upon goals and objectives? Do the Congress and the administration agree upon a set of targets that together they want the country to meet? Is the success of the Congress measured and, as a group, are they held accountable to the achievements?
When it comes down to it, many members of Congress have essentially one goal – get re-elected and move up the seniority chain so they can do more for their constituency. While we expect members of Congress to behave as a team, unfortunately we have designed them to behave just as they do. Structurally, Congress members are rewarded based on how well they satisfy the needs of their individual constituencies, not based on a common set of goals and objectives.
While it may never happened, wouldn’t it be interesting to see Congress and the Administration agree upon a few high level goals each year (e.g., reduce unemployment to 8%, reduce the national debt, reduce health care costs) and then be judged by whether or not together they were able to achieve the goals. And if not, the people of our country would then hold the entire group accountable (to avoid the finger-pointing). If they achieve the goals they stay, if they don’t we create the culture that the public and their own party considers dropping support.
Common vision, common goals, common measures of success, common accountability – the best way I know to get a team behaving like a team! Is your team structurally sound? Does your team have a common set of goals, common measures of success, and common accountability? If not, our team coaches may be able to help!
Give us a call at 800-824-2850 if you would like to learn more about getting your team operating as a team.
Michael Wilkinson is the Managing Director of Leadership Strategies – The Facilitation Company, and a much sought after trainer, facilitator and speaker. He is a Certified Master Facilitator and a Certified Professional Facilitator. As a past president of the Southeast Association of Facilitators and a board member of the National Institute of Facilitation, Michael is a national leader in the facilitation industry. You can get more tips from either of Michael’s books, The Secrets of Facilitation or The Secrets to Masterful Meetings. You can receive a signed copy through our website.
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