Changing the Goal
The world does not stand still. Therefore, each team faces, repeatedly, the decision as to whether the goal to date should be changed or maintained, rejecting possible alternatives in the process. To make this decision it must be established whether alternatives exist, if they are relevant and what effect ignoring them may have. For this purpose, continuous awareness regarding changes in the environment is necessary. Otherwise the generated stability could become rigidity. The adaptability of the team is then limited and its existence threatened.
Therefore, a decision-making model is required inside the team, which enables regular reflections upon members’ perceptions on the change in their environments. This requires an exchange of ideas about factual news (“the complaints are increasing”), social news (“the competition is laughing at us”) and seasonal news (“we must not miss this innovation”). Often, news is presented as criticism by individual employees or by the rest of the organisation. Immunisation against criticism is therefore dangerous for teams. It is the role of management to prevent this.