Teeming with Productivity Potential

You're not in this alone; your teammates stand ready to help. As the economic malaise continues to take its toll on organizations, teamwork may be one of the best avenues for increasing productivity. In fact, a new i4cp survey shows that, among companies that expect their productivity to rise over the next six months, over a third (35%) attribute their expectations at least partially to better teamwork. In this era of doing more with less, teams are stepping up to fill the gaps left by diminishing resources.

Problem: Fewer people

As a result of cost-cutting, downsizings, hiring freezes or early retirements, firms may find themselves with holes that are difficult to work around. In some cases, employees who were already assigned to a team may have been on a layoff list. In other cases, consultants or contract help who were contributing their talents to organizational efforts may have been slashed from the budget. The bottom line remains the same: fewer employees wearing more hats.

Solution: Teams

When this scenario occurs, companies may want to broaden the search for internal talent in order to redirect the right people to the right projects. Virtual teams can help in this situation, expanding the population of potential team members beyond those sharing physical workspace. In fact, more than two-thirds of respondents to a recent i4cp survey on teams said they see their reliance on virtual teams growing in importance over the next three years (Institute for Corporate Productivity, 2008).

For example, one way to sidestep productivity losses after downsizing is to keep progress moving on a project by using team members in different time zones. A well-orchestrated process can ensure that "handoffs" are streamlined and that "the brief overlaps in the working hours of the team members" are fully leveraged, according to Karen Cvitkovich (2008), a managing director with Aperian Global. Such "follow the sun" scheduling can allow companies to take advantage of widely dispersed talent while also providing team members with better work/life balance.

Another way to help employers corral talent located at different sites into one team is via Web conferencing. Such software applications often allow team members to share documents, take polls and have side conversations. For example, Sun Microsystems Inc. uses Cisco's WebEx for its more formal needs, says Karen Rohde, vice president of human resources, global talent management and rewards. In HR Magazine, Rohde notes, "You're trying to create a sense of community ... in a physically distributed environment" (Agnvall, 2009). With technology facilitating such meetings, employees who survive a layoff may appreciate this sense of a larger network of colleagues rather than a shrinking one.

Problem: Smaller budgets and less innovative thinking

Another consequence of the recession is cost-cutting decisions that continue their impact beyond an initial disappointment. For example, when expected investments in new equipment or technology are not forthcoming, the momentum that had been built based on expectations of improved capabilities comes to a crashing halt. What's more, the necessity to return to using the current infrastructure, an idea that was once deemed unacceptable, serves as an ongoing reminder of the company's financial woes. Sometimes companies need to come up with new ideas on how to use existing resources more effectively and creatively.

Solution: Teams

If this scenario occurs, firms may wish to form brainstorming teams, a use for teams that may be underutilized, according to i4cp's survey. One in five survey respondents said they used teams for brainstorming to only a small extent or not at all, making it the lowest of eight surveyed uses of teams.

Yet research has shown the advantages of putting multiple minds to work on solving problems and generating ideas. A study by Karan Girotra of INSEAD and Christian Terwiesch and Karl T. Ulrich of Wharton compared the performance of traditional brainstorming groups with "hybrid" teams that first had individuals generate ideas on their own and then brought them together to share their thoughts. While the study showed that the hybrid group outperformed the traditional group in terms of quantity of ideas, the traditional brainstorming group significantly outperformed the hybrid approach in producing the very best ideas (Hyatt, 2008). Such teams can be tasked with finding less-costly approaches to recurring tasks or coming up with innovations that don't require large investments. The interaction experienced by a brainstorming team can be a powerful way for employees to contribute to financial solutions and create buy-in.

Problem: Declining morale

When colleagues disappear, work mounts and wages freeze, employees can be left with sagging spirits. These feelings can manifest themselves in workplace languor, increased absences, health issues and other productivity-killers.

Solution: Teams

Should this scenario occur, larger organizations might take a lesson from small businesses, says John Eldred, co-founder of Wharton's Family Business Program, and aim for raising the spirit, engagement and energy of employees. In BusinessWeek SmallBiz, Eldred says entrepreneurs tend to "spend more time getting to know their employees so there's a sense of community and even of family." Examples of small businesses that have come up with ways to energize their employees include a publishing firm that offers Friday afternoon jam sessions to encourage creativity and an advertising firm with offices in three U.S. cities that has held simultaneous bowling nights and a photo-based Halloween costume contest (Gunn, 2008). When employees band together with a shared purpose – be it reaching a goal, surviving a tough quarter or just having fun – they boost their sense of belonging ... to their team and their organization.

i4cp's recommendations

In these tough times, focus on team performance as much as individual performance. And don't rely just on local talent. The age of virtual teams is here, and companies can benefit from the combined efforts of team members from all over the world. Firms can also do a better job of tapping into the creativity of teams via processes such as brainstorming. This is especially important in an era of cost-cutting, when companies need to come up with creative ways of doing more with less. Finally, organizations should use team-based engagement techniques in order to thwart productivity-killing morale problems that sometimes affect people during an economic downturn. With diminished access to resources, companies may find that promoting and optimizing their use of teams can help their firms – and their employees – retain a positive outlook during difficult economic times.


Documents used in the preparation of this TrendWatcher include the following:
  • Agnvall, E. (2009, January). Meetings go virtual. HR Magazine, 74-77.
  • Cvitkovich, K. (2008, November). Raising the bar: Leading global, virtual teams. Mobility, 82-90.
  • Gunn, E. (2008, August/September). That's the spirit! How to energize your team – and why it matters. BusinessWeek SmallBiz, 62-65.
  • Hyatt, J. (2008, Summer). Where the best – and worst – ideas come from. MIT Sloan Management Review, 11-12.
  • Institute for Corporate Productivity. (2009, January). Productivity outlook pulse survey results.
  • Institute for Corporate Productivity. (2008, August). Teams pulse survey results.