The Thing About Division

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Getting things done, as a team, is a challenging task at the best of times.

It requires us to pull together and take actions that are consistent and coherent with respect to our common end goal. This, in turn, requires clarity, communication and alignment. 

In other words, we need to all buy in and then do our bit (as part of the overall plan) to get there.  

So, it follows then that any division within our team is going to be a pretty fundamental problem, for two reasons.

First, because it makes it all the more difficult for us to achieve our end goal - we’re not doing the things we need to do to help each other. And second, because our competition (if we’re in one), will get there before us, if they’re even a bit better organized. 

I think we lose sight of this fact when we’re in the midst of our day to day issues, our functional or departmental constraints. The considerations and concerns of our specific ‘party’ become paramount, almost always to the detriment of the whole.

But the “Whole” is the point. It always has been, and it always has to be.

The responsibility for all of this rests, first and foremost, with leadership. 

Our leaders - you - are the ones who need to ensure that division isn’t allowed to take root. This means a few things.

We need to make sure there is a plan - a clear and coherent one that draws on the team’s strengths.

We need to ensure that there are the appropriate and adequate resources allocated to achieve the plan. 

We need to identify who plays what role in achieving the plan.

We need to tell each person and team that is supporting the plan, what they need to do.

We need to give them the freedom and autonomy to then go do it.

We need to measure our achievement and progress.

We need to evaluate and course correct regularly.

Most of all, we need to communicate. Again, and again, and again.