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A Team Player

Entry 2138, on 2021-07-05 at 22:37:27 (Rating 3, Comments)

I'm not much of a team player, I readily admit that. But is that even something I need to "admit" to? Is it actually a bad thing? I don't think so. To give an example of this I should recount the experiences of Fred (not his real name) who is a friend who works in a similar environment to me, and shares many of my views. I cannot discuss my own experiences here, because that might be seen as being unprofessional, but here's what happened to Fred...

He remembers a few years back, when he actually did a performance review at work. He doesn't usually participate in these, because they are a complete waste of time. In fact, they are worse than that, because any personal or professional deficiencies uncovered by that process can be used against the employee, while any positives are generally ignored.

Also, any doubtful improvements suggested by the employee which fit the management's ideology can be enthusiastically implemented, with the claim that is is supported by the workers, while any genuine ideas which don't fit are written off as impractical.

So basically, Fred says it is best not to participate. At the very least, and in addition to the problems I listed above, it does allow management to dishonestly tick off the checkbox of consultation, even though that is entirely disingenuous. At least, that is his experience.

Anyway Fred's manager discussed his ability to work as a team with him - note that he works in a large organisation where team work is usually highly valued. He told the manager that he is not a team player, and doesn't want to be. But she decided it was best if he looked a little bit more team-focussed, and made up some nonsense on his behalf, citing doubtful instances of him cooperating with this fellow workers.

Fred is quite highly valued by many of the people he does work for, because he is efficient and responsive. He achieves this mainly by ignoring the rules, ignoring the official convoluted and counterproductive mechanisms which are in place, and not going to meetings. In other words, he is a bit of a maverick, and mavericks do not work in teams.

Undoubtedly there are times when teamwork can be useful, and I think if he was fully honest Fred would admit that he can work with others when he needs to, but he does seem to function 90% of the time without any need to be part of a team. I think there is a difference between being a team person and being someone who occasionally consults his colleagues on various matters.

Fred told me about a project where he created a system as an individual which was delivered efficiently and cheaply, compared with a replacement system done by a large team which took five times longer to create, cost twenty times as much, and doesn't appear to offer many advantages.

Another project he worked on as an individual replaced a commercial system, cost about a quarter as much, and actually worked, unlike the system it replaced. When it was discovered he had created this system the management threatened him and tries to justify their own gross incompetence in creating the previous, expensive, unusable system.

So Fred thinks that part of the problem with teams seems to be that they become hierarchical, and the people leading them are often the most incompetent and morally corrupt. But, even without professional managers, teams are still inefficient because the communications (and miscommunications) between members of the team take more and more of the time which could be used productively instead.

Fred deliberately avoids meetings for this exact reason. Sure, he sometimes doesn't get some of the information he might need, but that is a small price to pay for the extra time he gains where he actually gets stuff done.

Finally, another problem with teams is the apparent need for rules to control the members of that team. An individual is generally able to control their own activities, based on the exact requirements of the situation at hand, but teams are usually constrained by inflexible rules, which might have been originally created with good intentions, but eventually just exist for their own sake.

There is no doubt that teamwork is essential once a task reaches a certain size. For example, an individual could not have designed and implemented the Apollo space program or the Large Hadron Collider, but there are many small to medium sized projects where an individual might be able to offer a far better solution than a conventional team could.

Yeah, teamwork has its place, but it is highly over-rated!

Comment 1 (6776) by Anonymous on 2021-07-06 at 14:51:24:

LOL, your "friend" Fred sounds like a real trouble-maker!

Comment 2 (6778) by OJB on 2021-07-06 at 22:33:34:

You might say that, but I couldn't possibly comment. :)

Comment 3 (6779) by Anonymous on 2021-07-07 at 08:44:48:

Have you ever considered you and Fred becoming a team?

Comment 4 (6780) by OJB on 2021-07-07 at 11:07:50:

I suggested that once, but Fred says he doesn't do teams!

Comment 5 (6781) by Anonymous on 2021-07-07 at 14:42:22:

You actually suggested becoming part of a team? I am glad Fred stuck true to his beliefs.

Comment 6 (6782) by OJB on 2021-07-07 at 15:50:24:

Yeah, a moment of weakness, I guess. Luckily it didn't come to anything. A lucky escape!

Comment 7 (6783) by Anonymous on 2021-07-07 at 18:45:09:

A lucky escape? I don't know. It could have turned out to be an excellent one man team.

Comment 8 (6784) by OJB on 2021-07-08 at 09:55:09:

I'm not sure what you are insinuating here, but as I said above: I couldn't possibly comment. :)

Comment 9 (6785) by Anonymous on 2021-07-09 at 13:10:50:

Me thinks you need to disentangle the bad management from teamwork. Working in teams is, generally, a fact of life. I work in a highly productive team where people respect each other and I believe the output is higher than the sum of the parts.

Comment 10 (6788) by OJB on 2021-07-09 at 14:43:00:

That is a good point. I think teams theoretically could work well, and as I said above: there are times when they are necessary (for example, for really big projects). But I think even if they could work well in theory, they rarely do in practice, if ever. At best, a necessary evil, in my experience.

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