In my last blog, I gave a brief introduction to self-managed teams.  Of course, not all teams should be structured entirely so that each individual manages both herself and the output of the team.  Imagine the chaos that would ensue if a surgeon did not direct nurses during a delicate surgery or if a coach could not assign players to positions on a baseball team.  In these cases, central authority figures play a key role and direct the outcome of the team to success.

On the other hand, most of the teams we work in day-to-day are not as structured as surgery or basketball teams.  In fact, the modern work environment recognizes that a lot of the work that knowledge workers accomplish – brainstorm new product ideas, improve internal processes, troubleshoot customer service issues – are best executed not through the orders of an established leader, but through the knowledge and insight of the workers on the ground floor.

So what situations are better for self-managed teams than others?

• When work must be done by people from multiple disciplines.  If you have a 15-member product team made up of engineers, marketing, and development, having one central leader with a background in a particular field could skew the end product toward one of the disciplines.  However, if the team is allowed to brainstorm ideas within the parameters of a product, it not only ensures the product takes into account all disciplines, it also creates buy-in for individual team members.
• When people are changing teams constantly.  Some situations demand that some people stay in a team for a short amount of time.  Student projects often work this way. When you’re bouncing from class-to-class, there’s little basis to establish an authority figure among your peers.  Plus, the object of education is to get everyone thinking and making decisions – not just the kid who raises her hand in the front row.
• When you want to break old habits and try something new. If a company has an authority-driven team structure, there’s a risk that things don’t change much because all decisions are being made by one person year-after-year.  Even when management changes hands, the old manager will likely hire someone like herself into the new position, enforcing the stagnation of ideas.  Self-managed teams can break this mold by having diverse people offer new solutions.
• When you truly want “bottom-up” driven decision-making.  Lots of companies talk about having a “bottom-up” approach to decision-making, but still give a lot of weight to management-driven decisions.  If you truly want to empower the guy on the frontlines, give him a chance to make some decisions on his own or in a team of his peers.  (The trick here is also to hold people accountable for those decisions using the same parameters you might use on a manager.)

Feel free to comment, criticize, or add to the discussion above.  I do believe that there’s a bigger need for self-managed teams out there, and hearing others’ thoughts would help us streamline Fellowstream as we hone in on a closed beta.

-Deborah Fike

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