building sustainable teams - a model

Building Sustainable Teams – a model © Malcolm Ferguson 2002 1
building sustainable
teams - a model
“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”
Aristotle
We write books, sing songs and dream dreams about
the ability of ordinary men and women to achieve
the extraordinary - together. We may admire
individuals who stand out above the rest, but it is
the accounts of unremarkable people uniting to
perform beyond their collective capability, that
truly inspire us. Universally, we acknowledge that
together we can do more - the question is: what
does it take? Is it possible to understand what
makes great teams? Is it chemistry, common sense,
or simply chance? No doubt there’s an element of
each, but history shows that effective teams do not
simply occur or evolve – they are actively built,
under the direction of one or more team leaders.
The concept of team-building probably brings to
mind corporate retreats, survival games and
problem solving. But effective team-building is a
continuous, collective effort, facilitated by a
respected leader or leaders. While the leader
directs and facilitates the process, each member
must play an active role in building.
The purpose of this document is to serve as an aid
for leaders of teams for responsible enterprise. If
the goal of responsible enterprise is identified as
creating shareholder wealth by adding value to the
environment (commercial, social and natural), then
the goal of any enterprising team is sustainability,
rather than any single achievement. Sustainability
does not imply growth, but long-term sustainability
does require renewal.
Approach
Much has been published on the subject of building
teams, but this is not a literature survey. Many have
explored the concepts of leadership, group
dynamics and followership in different concepts,
but this is not an academic paper. I firmly believe
that building teams is primarily about
understanding, inspiring, motivating and assisting
individuals. My approach, then, has been to
develop a seven step model for building sustainable
teams and to explore what each step entails. The
document you’re about to read is my opinion,
informed by the opinions of people whose approach
to leadership I have come to respect - friends,
colleagues, mentors, and the person I respect the
most in this world – my fiancée.
My sincere thanks to Abby Malan, Ailsa Stewart-
Smith, Ananda Richards, Arthur Alston, Balisi
Bonyongo, Carol Gorelick, Clem Sunter, Craig
o’Flaherty, Dick Groeneweg, Frank Horwitz, Ian
Rivett, Jack Koolen, Jerome Mkhonza, Khanya
Motshabi, Lee Marshall, Lilly Evans, Nick Segal, Nura
El-Ghaib, Pat Born, Towani Clarke, Trevor Rorbye
and Zubeida Harris for taking the time to reflect,
and for sharing your reflections with me. I have
learnt a lot from you about building sustainable
teams, either directly or in the process of thinking
through the insights you shared with me.
Seven Steps
These seven steps focus on the process of building
a sustainable team, regardless of context. The
assumption is made that the people under
consideration for the team have the necessary
skills.
1. RECOGNISE people of equivalent integrity
and ethics;
2. IDENTIFY those from 1 with the potential to
assist you in achieving your goal;
3. INSPIRE those identified in 2 to take
ownership of the enterprise you propose;
4. FACILITATE the development of a strategy to
achieve the goal, by the team formed in 3;

5. MOTIVATE team members to develop their
potential through implementing the
strategy;
6. ENGENDER values of professionalism,
interdependence and goal-centeredness
within the team;
7. MENTOR the team members as they
replicate the process to form their own
teams.
Seven Questions
As you start to think about building your team, I
believe the most important preparation is to ask
yourself the questions below. If you understand
what works for you, then you’ll be in a better
position to lead others. Also ask the prospective
members to answer the questions – comparing their
answers to yours will give an indication of what
you’ll need to focus on.
1. What approach do you believe would be the
most effective in demonstrating the depth
of your integrity?
2. What method of assessment do you feel
would allow you to demonstrate your
development potential most effectively?
3. What is likely to inspire you to take
ownership of, and contribute to, an
enterprise that you're introduced to?
4. Which approach to strategy formation do
you find allows you to be the most creative
and constructive?
5. What would motivate you to grow and
contribute in a team context?
6. What form of leadership would you respond
best to, with respect to maintaining the
team’s values?
7. How would you prefer to be assisted by a
mentor, as you build your own team?
people of equivalent
ethics and integrity
Effective teamwork requires contributing one’s
resources, so the challenge is to find people who
will respect your contribution, match it with their
own, and acknowledge accountability. I believe the
most important characteristic of any effective team
is mutual trust. Trusting others is always a risk -
this first step is an attempt to minimise that risk. I
trust people whose integrity I can fathom - by
integrity I mean honesty, sincerity and commitment
to one's word.
When assessing candidates’ integrity, consider the
person’s behaviour – through your own interactions,
past and present, formal and informal, and the
opinions of others whom you trust. Importantly,
challenge your own perspectives to ensure your
assessment is not biased by gender, culture or race.
Engage candidates in conversation, both
individually, and as a group. During the
conversation, build rapport and set an example by
relating your own experience in dealing with
complexity and ethical dilemmas. Take note of the
following in the candidates:
1. Body language, eye contact – look for signs
of uneasiness when talking about integrity;
2. Focus of the questions they ask;
3. Readiness to contribute in the past;
4. Readiness to trust others;
5. Ability to articulate their own ethical
framework, and commitment to it;
6. Ability to deal with complexity and ethical
dilemmas;
7. Sources of inspiration;
8. Personal goals;
9. Loyalty to marriage and other family
relationships;
10. Behaviour ‘in the dark’, i.e. when no-one
appears to be watching;
11. Signs of ‘passing the buck’;
1 Recognise

Now, having satisfied yourself that the candidate’s
integrity matches your own, it’s important to bear
in mind that integrity is commitment to personal
ethics. While most would ascribe to similar ethics –
mutual respect, honesty, community, family etc. –
we don’t necessarily rank them in the same order
of priority. The result is that someone of equivalent
integrity may surprise you by acting in line with
different ethical priorities. Asking the following
specific questions should give you some idea of what
you’re dealing with:
1. What do ethics mean to you?
2. Give examples of occasions where you had
to resolve an ethical dilemma in order to
make a decision.
3. Give some examples of when you
compromised your integrity.
4. Who do you turn to when things are really
tough?
5. What principles inform your ethical
framework?
6. How do you deal with stress?
Then, propose scenarios which require a choice
between two ‘right answers’, and ask the candidate
to make a call. The reason for using more than one
is to assess the consistency of responses. Here are
some examples:
1. financial gain vs. reputation
2. loyalty to colleagues vs. obeying the law
3. putting colleagues first vs. putting clients
first
Finally, take your intuition into account and give
yourself time to reflect. Remember that everyone
makes mistakes, but it is the way mistakes are dealt
with, that reflects integrity.
those with growth potential
and complementary profiles.
Now the focus is on development potential – which
of the candidates you’ve short-listed have the
potential to grow into their roles while working
together as a team? Put yourself in the shoes of
your candidate - you may be convinced that you
haven’t yet reached your full potential, but how do
you convince someone else of this?
There are a number of psychometric tests available,
but there is speculation as to the validity of these
tests for assessing potential. I am wary of dividing
candidates on the basis of any formal assessment
tool, especially in the South African context.
Instead, consider the person’s past performance
and reputation – talk to previous colleagues and
employees. Avoid role-plays, however, as these are
more likely to leave the candidate wondering what
role you wanted him or her to play, than give you
an accurate idea of development potential. Rather
use the previous approach of individual and group
conversations, but this time focus on the way in
which candidates interact with each other. In order
to assess the candidates’ hunger to achieve and
willingness to grow, ask these questions:
1. What are your strengths & weaknesses?
2. Who has helped you get where you are
today?
3. If you think about your most significant
achievements, how did you get involved?
4. What would you do in the following
situation...?
Focus on candidates’ ability to:
1. handle conflict;
2. identify opportunities and trends;
3. perform in the midst of uncertainty;
4. draw on the strengths of others;
5. challenge the status quo;
6. accept failure and mistakes;
7. teach others and learn from them.
Be sure to act as a catalyst, taking note of your gut
feel as you let the candidate talk – the longer he or
she talks, the more you will learn. If the candidate
has absolutely nothing to say, that’s a message in
itself, but be equally wary candidates who ramble
on and on.
2 Identify

Once you’ve come up with a shortlist of candidates
you believe you can trust, and with the growth
potential you require, it’s important to consider the
mix of profiles on your team. The Myers-Briggs
personality test and Thomas International’s DiSC
test, give you an indication of the candidate’s
personality type, each using a mix of four
characteristics. The Belbin test is an excellent tool
to help you establish what role each candidate is
likely to play in the team, so that you have a good
mix. On the one hand, you don’t want a team of
blue-sky thinkers with no-one to turn the ideas to
action; on the other hand, a team of implementers
is of little use if there’s no-one to come up with the
strategy. It’s a good idea to take the tests yourself,
and ensure that your own profile is well
complemented by the team. you have sufficient
diversity on the team.
Finally, conduct a trial project with the new team,
if possible. This will give everyone an opportunity
to get past the ‘honeymoon’ phase, and get used to
working together under pressure before the real fun
starts...
candidates to take ownership of
the proposed enterprise.
You will only achieve your goal if you’re totally
passionate about it and fully committed. The same
applies to each member of your team, so how do
you inspire this commitment? There are three areas
to consider – the image you project, the way you
communicate the goal, and the goal itself.
For most, the goal itself is the overarching
inspiration – your team members will take
ownership if it appeals to each individual’s desire
to make a difference – whether the context is
environmental, political, social, moral, spiritual, or
some combination. Seek to understand what each
team member aspires to. If you appeal to team
members on an emotional level, they will share your
passion for the goal; if you appeal on a rational
level, they will be able to see themselves defending
the cause; if you do both, they will embrace the
goal and take ownership. This all starts with your
ability to articulate the goal - clearly,
enthusiastically, credibly.
You have identified team members with
development potential – now it’s important that
your goal stretches them. Team members must
believe that achieving the goal will equate to
growing as an individual, and that their
contributions will be integral to the success of the
enterprise.
In addition, you need to articulate the ethical
framework – moral constraints, issues of right and
wrong - within which you live and work, e.g. trust,
honesty commitment to one’s word, upholding the
law of the country. For some, these constraints are
not clearly defined; for many, they are not
consciously defined at all. Nevertheless, I believe
any team or enterprise defines itself through the
opportunities it declines and the strategies it
avoids. Your team members will look to you to
prescribe and uphold the ethics of the team.
While ethics are concerned with issues of right and
wrong, values are those characteristics that
describe the team’s approach to any single task and
to projects and programmes as a whole. Mine are
professionalism, interdependence, and goal-
centredness. I take people seriously who project an
image of professionalism, and I believe the reverse
is equally true. I believe a team will begin to
perform beyond the members’ collective ability
when they recognise the value of sharing insights,
frustrations and opportunities – interdependence.
Lastly, the team exists to achieve a goal – lose sight
of this, and the team no longer has a raison d’être.
I believe it’s important for the leader to articulate
the team values, and then to agree on practical
implications of these values through a collaborative
process. In a situation where you are elected leader
by the team, the team may vote to establish values
as a group. In this case, you will need to decide if
the values identified are sufficiently similar to your
own, before accepting the leadership role.
It is important to notice that, while these three
issues need to be addressed and agreed upon before
embarking on any course of action, they neither
prescribe nor describe any approach to strategy
themselves. For example, you may commit to
making money while observing honesty,
engendering trust and upholding the law in a
context of professionalism, interdependence and
goal-centredness, and yet still have no strategy – no
identified means by which to actually reach the
goal.
Just as you have assessed your team members, they
will now be assessing you - in particular:
3 Inspire

1. your approach to colleagues, superiors and
clients;
2. your ability to inspire other team members,
and the team as a whole;
3. the extent to which you make yourself
vulnerable;
4. your own passion for, and dedication to the
goal;
5. whether or not you create space for them to
share ownership of the goal;
6. the extent to which the ethics and values
you prescribe are evident in your own life.
the development of an
effective strategy.
Now that everyone’s rearing to go, it’s time to work
out how to get where you’re going.
Strategy is the means by which an entity reaches a
goal, within an ethical framework and governed by
a particular set of values. This definition identifies
strategy by distinguishing it from the goal, ethics
and values of the enterprise you are establishing.
In fact, I believe that much of the frustration,
confusion and conflict associated with corporate
strategy, is the result of not making this distinction.
Having completed Step 3 successfully, you and your
team are in the clear!
Start by facilitating a team discussion to establish
an action plan. Encourage creativity and blue sky
thinking, but keep the end in mind, i.e. check your
team members are in the right sky! Invite input
from others with experience in the relevant field
and learn as much as possible about potential
pitfalls. Brainstorm questions that need to be
addressed and then order them, working back from
the goal. Contribute periodically but, whatever you
do, don’t dominate! Some important questions are:
1. What need are we feeding?
2. What markets should we serve?
3. What benefits will our customers value?
4. What tools do we need?
5. What competencies do we need?
Once all the questions have been identified, provide
the answers you have in mind, and invite the team
to challenge them until you reach agreement. Be
flexible regarding proposals at this stage – your main
concern should be that the proposed strategy
achieves the identified goal within the agreed
ethical framework and values, using the resources
at your disposal.
Identify the questions that require research, and
schedule a second session to complete the list of
answers. Use an iterative process to ensure
congruency right through from the first answer to
the last.
At this stage, explain that the strategy will
necessarily need to be revised as the team learns
more about the current uncertainties. Emphasise
the importance of maintaining communication and
sharing ideas and lessons on an informal level.
Introduce the concept of a knowledge asset – a
digital storage facility that will provide a means of
capturing the tacit knowledge gained along the
way. The focus of this knowledge asset should be
to answer questions in the form, “What does the
team know about....?”
Make a point of creating an atmosphere of openness
and sense of community through dialogue in
different informal contexts – over lunch, at the
coffee machine, in the bar, on the golf course –
wherever team members meet. Then, actively
interrupt reality every now and then, by calling
impromptu meetings. Make it clear that there’s no
agenda for these meetings – just an opportunity to
share insights, frustrations and opportunities.
Encourage team members to capture these in the
knowledge asset.
the team members to
develop their potential.
As that first planning session fades into the past and
the team encounters unforeseen obstacles en route
to the goal, it’s up to you as the leader to keep them
fired up.
There will be times that team members wonder if
they wouldn’t be better off on their own – when the
whole team process seems onerous and limiting. To
counter this:
4 Facilitate
5 Motivate

1. Create a forum for team members to share
frustrations and learning.
2. Don’t expect your team to anything you’re
not prepared to do yourself
3. Adopt a collaborative approach to decision-
making.
4. Let go – give team members responsibility
for their tasks – give them the resources and
hold them accountable, but trust them to
determine how best to get the job done.
5. Highlight the relevance and importance of
each team member’s contribution.
6. Make it clear that mistakes are acceptable,
as long as the team member can
demonstrate learning.
7. Recognise, reward and celebrate individual
successes.
8. Make space for each team member to grow.
9. Meet regularly with individual members –
encourage “no holds barred” feedback, and
check that they feel sufficiently challenged
by their role in the team. Also use this as an
opportunity to look back and consider the
personal progress each member has made.
a culture of commitment
to identified team values.
While the team members are getting on with
overcoming obstacles, meeting deadlines and
achieving targets, you need to focus on maintaining
the team’s values. Teamwork requires shared
values – imagine the challenge of managing a
multinational sports team! On the other hand, even
shared values will gradually be neglected with time.
First, make sure the values are visible – perhaps on
the access page of the knowledge asset. Then, set
an example to reinforce their importance. Do this
by encouraging your team to challenge any
contribution you make, that they feel does not
reflect the team’s values. Another approach is to
role-play anecdotal examples of unacceptable
behaviour, while the team takes on the customer’s
perspective [this will need to be done sensitively!].
The benefit of a ‘customer role-play’ is that it
demonstrates why the values are important – in
terms of the ultimate impact on the customer’s
perception of the enterprise. One way to maintain
a focus on work quality is to highlight the
importance of presentation, but remember the
80/20 rule – it generally takes 80% of the effort to
achieve the last 20% improvement. In monitoring
adherence to values, check that the last 20% will
actually have an impact on the customer before
making an issue out of it. If there’s cause for
concern with a particular individual, make use of
your regular one-on-one meetings to address the
issue privately.
The degree of success you achieve in maintaining
these values will depend on your leadership style.
Here, the most important thing is to be sincere. Be
true to yourself, and focus on:
1. active listening – seeking to understand;
2. participating as a team member;
3. integrating the diversity of the group;
4. adding value to individual team members;
5. setting an example of a balanced,
disciplined lifestyle;
6. challenging the team to excel;
7. withholding judgment in the interest of
building confidence;
8. distinguishing between what’s non-
negotiable (goal, ethics, values) and what’s
open for debate (strategy, process, resource
allocation);
9. being real - willingness to show
vulnerability;
10. the big picture.
team members as they build
their own sustainable teams.
You’ve successfully achieved your goal – the team
has become a dynamic, interdependent unit and
now its time to look to the future. You decide to
embark on a growth curve and select a few of the
team members to build their own teams. Your role
will change from team leader to mentor – what does
6 Engender
7 Mentor

that mean in practice? Perhaps the best way to
prepare the prospective team leaders for their new
role is to task them with finding their own
replacements in the original team, using Steps 1 to
3.
As principal, you are responsible for the overall
performance of the enterprise, so you need to know
how things are going with the fledgling teams.
Sincere feedback only comes through relationship -
if you provide the sort mentoring that your newly-
appointed team leaders really appreciate, then the
feedback will flow.
Encourage your team leaders to seek advice widely,
giving examples of how you’ve benefited from your
own mentors. Apart from being sound advice, this
will send a clear signal that your intention is to play
a supporting role. In terms of approach, I believe
the following would be well received by someone
who respects you and values your guidance:
1. Make it clear that you’re always available to
guide, assist, or just listen, and that
confidentiality is assured.
2. Encourage the team leader to use you as a
safety net for current projects and a
sounding board for new ideas.
3. Focus on developing a relationship – leave
operational matters to the team leader
except where advice is requested.
4. Challenge the team leader to set personal
and team targets, to which you can hold
him/her accountable – act as a mirror.
5. Make a point of not calling more than once a
month - and then perhaps for a private
lunch.
6. When you meet, ask about progress in other
relationships – an important measure of
leadership development – but only ask
questions you have the license to ask.
7. Ensure that there is space in the team
leader’s schedule and budget for leadership
training.
8. Make it clear that you will always be
supportive in public, and address
accountability in private.
9. Provide honest, constructive feedback – you
may be the one person the team leader can
rely on for accurate personal assessment.
10. Encourage the team leader to make use of,
and build on, the existing knowledge asset.
Finally, bear in mind that the team leader plays a
key role in your enterprise – your role is to ensure
that he/she contributes responsibly to the success
of the enterprise, and is rewarded appropriately.
Closing
The first three steps are probably the most
important, most difficult, and most ignored –
choose the right people and inspire them. The
fourth, fifth and sixth steps are all about
sustainability – keep revisiting these steps and you
will keep the team together. The final step is
optional – recognise that the decision to grow your
enterprise is a conscious one, and that this step will
change the dynamics of your team.
This document is personal perspective on what it
takes to build a sustainable team - the result of
considering the opinions of others, and
consolidating them into my own. I believe this is
the most important aspect of leadership – taking a
stand that you’re prepared to defend.
Those who stand for nothing fall for anything
Alexander Hamilton
My hope is that you use the model presented as the
basis for a knowledge asset, then develop and
enrich this, based on your own experience. If you
would like to engage on any aspect covered here,
please contact me on malcolm.ferguson@me.com

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