Team or Clique??

Resource Management -1

What is good for project managers - Team or Clique?  

Project Managers need to understand the difference between the team (teamwork) and clique to take the optimal performance from the people who report to them. Project Manager should not circumvent this while selecting team at the onset of new project.

Groups that work well are an important component of the workplace. Often, nothing is more satisfying from a managerial perspective than the positive energy of a group accomplishing goals. On the other hand, when employees join forces against each other, spread rumors, make false assumptions, and gossip, these actions can deplete morale and breed conflict.

Let’s look at the definitions for both.

Team: A team comprises a group of people linked in a common purpose.

Clique: A small group of people with shared interests, who spend time together and exclude others.

In corporate world, these two words are part of their daily existence at work.  They’re part of a department or a project team.  There are motivational posters plastered across their company walls touting the team concept.  And as in sports, teams can help make organizations powerful and achieve objectives.  However, there is also another group of individuals who some might call a team that should be really called a clique that impacts corporate performance and more importantly your career success. 

In my own corporate experience, I have seen project teams form that ultimately turn into cliques through lack of sharing of information and inclusivity of key players.   Another twist on the workplace clique is the group that you might form with colleagues that turns into dreaded mini sorority from which movies are made of.    Both versions of the clique really can hurt your career.  With the first one, you might think that you’re contributing to both your organization’s objectives as well as growing your career, but you’re actually sabotaging both.  With the second version of a clique, you might have been trying to build relationships and to feel included, but then somehow became part of a group that loves to tear down others, gossip and commiserate together.

Realty:

Good managers won't really tolerate cliques and will create environments that foster community and inclusiveness. While healthy competition helps spur innovation in the workplace, cliques are truly more detrimental to your career than a boon to it. Sure, being the new person or a new member on the team means you have to ingratiate yourself with everyone and feel everybody out. Feel out their strengths and weaknesses so you can determine where your own expertise can complement the teams.

In addition, management shouldn't openly sanction fraternization, so as to not endorse one group of people over another for proactively socializing. And while cliques can have the illusion of safety in numbers, just remember this: Companies hire and fire individuals. So align yourself with people who are going to push you to be the best you can be and focus on how your efforts can help others. There's a difference between smart socializing and just desperately trying to make friends to get gossip or get ahead.

Conclusion:

Experienced project managers who have led failed or even successful projects learn a number of lessons during their career: namely, what works and what doesn't; who works and who doesn't  which people work well together and which ones do not. These project factors, when reviewed during and after a project, tend to crystallize in the manager’s mind to indicate which team members he would like to have on a subsequent project to yield the same or better results. There is nothing inherently wrong with this approach.

Project success is never assured even with the best planning. However, just as a project manager does everything to ensure success by addressing the foundational elements of a project (e.g., schedule, risk identification and others) the same care must be taken to assemble a team with the right chemistry along with the best skills, talents and abilities. By doing so, new and old team members see a level playing field rather than favoritism. Project members perform better and contribute new and fresh ideas so that projects have an even better chance for success.

Understand the difference between team and clique will defiantly help project managers to select team, handle team. 

The right mix of people that came together to produce the desired results in the past may not be the right ones needed to produce great results in the future. 

Once morale wanes, it is only a matter of time before contribution fatigue sets in to drain the life from the project.