Singing from the same song-sheet

Article originally published in Project Management Review, November 2001. Copyright 2001 (c) Richard Byford

Teamwork is based on harmony, as Richard Byford explains in this light-hearted look at the benefits gained when team members sing to the same song sheet

The studio is dark, illuminated only by a few soft down-lighters and a glow of red lights from the control room. Here and there, scattered silhouettes of music stands, keyboards and drum kits witness the creative efforts of countless musicians earlier in the day. Your favourite singer of all time puts on headphones and steps into the vocal booth.There is a faint click in the control room as the sound engineer starts the backing track for your own special song.

This is the sixth and final version of the song by a collection of your favourite singers for a track by your ‘fantasy choir’.

Can you imagine the result if you simply superimposed tracks of the same song, recorded by all your favourite singers? To start with, most of them will have a preference for the key that suits their range. Then there is timing, phrasing and style to consider. Would they all start singing at the same time? Would they interpret the song the same way, or add their own fancy interpretations to each line? I doubt that you would be impressed by the result.

So let’s move on. This time, you get them to agree on a key and tempo that suits them all. Eventually, you get them to settle on a particular style and treatment. With some effort, you manage to persuade them to drop their individual embellishments (‘no Elvis you can’t go a’huh at the end of each verse…’). After some compromise, the end result sounds a lot better than the first attempt. But it seems bland and dull compared with that which any one of them could have sung on their own.

There’s still some studio time left so you try a little experiment. What if you asked them to try a bit of harmony! There’s laughter followed by indignant complaints. But this is only fantasy and you are in control. These superstars – completely at your service – start to organise themselves, choosing between them who should sing which part and how to produce the best result. Eventually, enthusiasm gets the better of them. Since this is only going on in your head, you can choose to fast-forward now and imagine the finished track recording.

Real world

Translating this into the real world, there are some interesting insights into how project teams work together. When we talk about teams, there is a tendency to imagine that if you have the right mix of good people, you automatically reap the benefits. But consider what happened in the fantasy choir: in the first attempt, all the singers gave their best, but the result was discord, because there was no coordination between them. On the second attempt, each of the singers had to compromise their individual talents to sing in unison. Lastly, they all had to work hard to produce harmony, when their talents combined into something that was greater than that which any single individual could have achieved.

The discord of individuals

Discord is the result of good people striving for excellence, but working in isolation.

Like the singers, they have their own peculiar talents and work on the same task in their own way, without reference to others in the group. It’s as if other workers don’t exist – they certainly don’t like listening to each other. They will start and finish when they think fit, work at their own pace and in a style that suits only themselves.

‘Examples of discord can be found in groups of experts’

Typical examples of discord can be found in groups composed of experts (and prima donnas). Despite their individual qualities, the sum of their output is frequently less than they expect of themselves collectively. There is little long-term intrinsic reward for belonging to this sort of group. The frustration and stress created by inter-group conflict and bickering outweigh the satisfaction of working independently.

Workgroups with this structure are useful for tackling important – yet relatively simple – tasks, when expense and work-group morale is not an issue. Staff turnover is likely to be high as people become dissatisfied at having their efforts overlooked – however, those who remain are likely to be the ones who can ‘tough it out’ and get their efforts pushed to the fore. This approach has frequently been used by despots and dictators, many of whom would allocate the same task to a selection of people to see who made the best job of it.

The unison of crowds

Unison (no reference to the respected trade union of the same name), by contrast, is very rewarding to the participants who have a high need to ‘belong’ and are prepared to sacrifice their individuality to the team. If your fantasy choir example, each has compromised their own singing style so that they can join with others to produce a simpler, louder, version of the song. In a real life team, this will mean that each person is prepared to adapt their preferred working style to ‘fit in’ with others.

Teams with this structure will be nervous about allowing internal conflict or challenges to the status-quo. Mechanisms will appear in the group to discourage differences of opinion, even if those differences point to improvements in process or solutions. The sense of conformity is more important than the task. People are often reduced to a commodity and devalued: The prime criterion for membership is the ability to conform.

‘With Unison, the sense of conformity is more important than the task’

This sort of team may perform well when given clear and simple objectives or a common enemy. Loyalty is maintained by fear of disenfranchisement. A good example is a chanting crowd of sports supporters: the total value of their joint effort is the same as that for any individual in the group – only louder. Teams like these are very easy to join and stay with. Membership gives high rewards and is undemanding. People will remember their participation for as long as they live and talk fondly of the great camaraderie they experienced. Projects on which they work may also seem to last a lifetime but be less fondly remembered by their sponsors.

The harmony of true performers

Lastly we come back to the example of harmony. In this case, each singer uses his or her talent for the good of the task and works hard to ensure that their contribution benefits the team effort. Individuality is valued because the team works best if each person exercises their own strength to complement that of others. Individual skill is harnessed in a framework of cooperation and discipline.

A team working in harmony recognises that their strength comes from their individual talents and encourages every member to use their unique qualities to the full. These are people who are prepared to work at tasks and relationships in equal measure. They forgive each other, celebrate diversity and consider challenge and conflict as positive energies. Each is valued for their contribution to the team. This team performs well on complex tasks.

It takes hard work to become an accepted member of this sort of team, but the intrinsic rewards make the effort worthwhile. The existence of conflict and uncertainty make it uncomfortable for immature personalities or people with limited self-confidence. New team members will be assimilated more readily if they have the potential to enhance the team’s overall capability.

Lessons for project managers

So what is the lesson for project management? Well, if you are in a mess, you can throw money at the problem, bring in loads of clever people and let them slug it out in discord. If the problem you are trying to solve is fairly simple then you will probably get a result, but expect some collateral damage in the process.

If the problem is complex, you should expect a huge amount of unpleasant noise, followed by acrimony, disagreement and resignations.

If you are the project manager, people may blame you for ruining their careers.

Teams based on unison are fun and give members a warm feeling of belonging.

Again, if all the tasks are simple and straightforward, you might get a result – eventually. Even if you don’t achieve anything, at least people will think you are a great team leader. If the project has any element of complexity, the unison team will delight in trying to reduce it to something a lot simpler.

They will enjoy doing this so much that they will not want to stop – and anybody who tells them otherwise will become the common enemy’ – so try to avoid exerting control or forcing the project back on schedule.

There are still many project managers who measure ‘team spirit’ by the absence of disagreement and declare that their project is in good health if the team are friendly and socialising well.

‘There are still many project managers who measure ‘team spirit’ by the absence of disagreement’

Others persist in recruiting increasing numbers of expensive experts, then watching while they play political games and destroy their own and their colleagues careers while the project escalates out of control.

If you are faced with a complex project, you need a team that strives towards harmony . There will be conflict and disagreement but it will never become a problem because people will see it as a necessary step to achieving their goals.

Risks will be taken and there will be a lot of experimentation to see if things can be done better.

The whole team will accept responsibility for failed experiments because they trust and forgive each other. They will just move on, with lessons learned.

The strong task focus will mean that objectives will be met; professional pride and mutual support will drive the team to exceed expectations and look for new challenges.

It’s a wrap

The recording studio is bright now and the sound of champagne corks can be heard over the background noise of friendly conversations and the chink of glasses. In the control room, some of the world’s greatest singers gather around the playback monitors to listen to the masterpiece they have just put together. They revel in their newly discovered creativity.