Page 191 - How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times

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— Use 360-degree feedback with team leaders or members.
— Conduct team-building sessions for the senior executive team.
— Initiate efforts that result in senior leaders becoming more visibly effec-
tive working together as a team.
— Encourage senior leaders to spend more time interacting with frontline
employees.

— Eliminate artificial barriers between managerial and other employees.

: FINAL THOUGHTS

What an impressive exhibition of teamwork it was: 2,008 Chinese
percussionists drumming in unison at the opening ceremonies for the
2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. It was a dramatic demonstration
of the power that Asian cultures place on coordinated group effort,
and a reminder to Western television viewers that competing in a
global economy will require all the teamwork we can muster.
There is, in fact, a strong tradition of teamwork in America—in
team sports and the military, in particular. And yet there is also the
opposite and no less treasured American tradition of the rugged in-
dividualist hero as personified by Charles Lindbergh or the Lone
Ranger—the free-agent achiever. How we resolve these two seem-
ingly conflicting traditions is a challenge in our current business cli-
mate. In many ways, business teamwork has failed recently. Corporate
executives have disappointed us with their focus on self-enrichment at
the expense of their companies and their customers. Executive teams
in many businesses are in constant conflict over turf and scarce re-
sources. Our senators and congressional representatives can barely
maintain enough civility to get past their differences and pass con-
structive legislation for the good of the country.
Fortunately, there are a few positive examples, among them the
Best-Places-to-Work winners that scored high on teamwork. They em-
body what is possible in most organizations—a transformation from