The Four Cs of Teamwork
There is more than one version of The Four Cs of Teamwork. Jon
R.Katzenbach proposed that they were communication, cooperation,
collaboration and compromise whereas Lou Carloni suggested
communication, cooperation, contribution and commitment. In
either case analysing a team's position on the four Cs is a
useful exercise and these two examples have communication and
cooperation in common. Perhaps we should settle on six Cs of
Teamwork.
Communication
Katzenbach and Carloni both agreed that good communication was
an essential ingredient of teamwork. Arguably communication is
at the core of all processes within business. The basics of
communication require that roles and responsibilities are
discussed and assigned within the team and that information is
effectively shared. Beyond this you must ask whether
disagreements and conflicts are constructively handled and
finally whether team members are open and honest. Trust is the
key to effective teamwork.
Cooperation
Good teamwork requires that team members cooperate fully with
each other. Cooperation is a result of good communication and it
requires clarity and, crucially, trust. Effective cooperation
should be a harmonious process and again the quality of
communication will determine this. A measure of cooperation is
that when a member of a team is under pressure others offer to
help out and the key word is offer. Begrudgingly lending a hand
having been told to do so is not the same.
Collaboration
It is quite difficult to differentiate between cooperation and
collaboration. The definition of both words have much in common.
Cooperation is more commonly used to describe an association of
people for economic gain. Collaboration is typically an
intellectual effort and it can also describe a treasonable
association, for example with an enemy. It may suggest a form of
very close and committed teamwork, but in this particular case I
feel it is the weakest, or the least useful of the Cs.
Compromise
Compromise is very important in any relationship. It is rare for
any outcome to be perfect; it is important that team members
accept this and do not put colleagues under pressure
particularly when a best effort is acceptable. There are
conditions when perfectionism is necessary for example in
engineering or when a less than perfect outcome presents danger.
However, one of the most debilitating behaviours within a group
effort is unnecessary nit picking or arguing over detail when it
causes the team to lose focus on the objective.
Contribution
In most teams each individual will contribute a different set of
skills to the group effort. The team must understand the role of
each team member and they must understand how it contributes to
the team's objectives. Ideally everyone will understand and
recognise the importance of each colleague's skills. If one team
member is perceived as being less important or not working as
hard as others this will be a problem. If this is an issue
between two colleagues the problem will need to be addressed by
the team leader. If the feeling is a general consensus then
serious questions need to be asked of the team member whose
contribution is being questioned.
Commitment
Is the team committed to a common objective? Is the team, and
particularly the leadership, committed to developing the
individuals within the team? Are team members committed to one
and other and do they share common values regarding the work
they are doing? The first step towards encouraging commitment
within a team is to make sure that they understand their
objectives and how those objectives fit into the goals of the
whole company. Teams need to know that the work that they are
doing is important and valued elsewhere in the company.
How can you use this information to the benefit of your team?
Like many such theories this is essentially a discussion piece.
You can take each word in turn and throw it out to your team
members in an open session for discussion. Your objective is to
see what issues come out of the discussion. You may find that
other words and ideas come out of the discussion and you may
find that there are other words which are more relevant to your
team. There are also some useful online surveys based around
this; again they are designed to stimulate discussion rather
than reach a set conclusion.