When Is Teamwork Really Necessary

It has always amazed me that when we tend to correct a bad situation, we over react and go to the other extreme.  The top down directive leadership of the 80″s gave way to today’s highly collaborative meetings that in many ways are even more ineffective.  At least with positional leadership everyone knew what to do.  Today we talk too much and actually work less.  This HBR post is a must read:

“Most leaders assume that they need to foster teamwork among the people whom directly and indirectly report to them. Teaming is now seen as the workplace equivalent of motherhood and apple pie — invariably good. The problem is when leaders try to drive the wrong kind of collaboration on their particular teams. The result: wasted time and unnecessary frustration.”

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