Close
Type and press "Enter" to search

Team members can be certain about extreme areas accountability and authority

Share Article

Organization Development    Team Building

Team Building Rochester, NY - Simon School MBA

Dealing with uncertainty + ambiguity is an indicator of team & organizational health.

The higher the rate of change the higher the ambiguity.

Understanding how people on teams are given + accept accountability & authority helps identify what is & is not working.

With high change we know less about what to do, how to do it, the path to take or not to take, & who should or should not have the authority to complete team tasks.  Nobody can predict all the options & know what will work in advance.

Team members can be certain about extreme areas accountability & authority.
Certain Boundaries

Up to this defined point I have authority to make decisions & know that I am held in account to complete these tasks.
Uncertain Boundaries

Beyond that point it is certainly beyond my authority to decide & I am certain I cannot be held in account to complete those tasks.
  • Between these 2 extremes is a wide crevasse of uncertainty.
  • Between these 2 extremes is where individual discretion counts.
  • Between these 2 extremes is where complexity can be observed.
  • Between these 2 extremes is where managers add value.
  • Between these 2 extremes is where your team flourishes or withers

What do you think?

How should teams deal with uncertainty? What has worked for you?

Related posts:

  1. How is stacking knives on marshmallows corporate development and learning?

    By having people do something (not too scary or different) that appears to be novel or unique may be a sufficient change to break their “stuckness in thinking” or the existing patterns of behavior the team exhibits. Once we can shift behavior patterns people sometimes...

  2. Team Building and Leadership Development Agenda Finding what works

    Working with teams over several months allows the team to take time to test what worked, how it worked, it what context and with whom it worked; plus the same can be applied to what did not work....