Making the shift from “survive’ to “thrive” depends on an organization becoming distinctly human at its core - a different way of being that approaches every question, every issue, and every decision from a human angle first.

2021 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends

If you read nothing else at the start of 2021, I recommend you read this report.

I do not think it is ground-breaking.

It covers subject matter that many of us have been shouting from the roof-tops for years.

1. Taking care of employee mental well-being.

2. Empowering workers and providing autonomy.

3. The importance of team.

4. Using real-time workforce data to drive decision-making and actions.

5. Changing HR role from enforcing policy to bringing humanity back into the workplace.

Search my blogs, and you will find all of those topics covered.

But maybe, because it is Deloitte, someone will sit-up and listen!

I explored point 1 and 2 in previous articles. This week let’s look at number 3.

Superteams: Where Work Happens

Deloitte looked at the trends and what the organizations focused on surviving are doing as opposed to those who are focused on thriving.

Superteams: Where work happens

The Trend: COVID-19 has taught organizations that teams are even more important to thriving amid constant disruption than they might have thought before.
Surviving: Using technology as a tool to make teams more efficient
Thriving: Integrating humans and technology into superteams that use their complementary capabilities to rearchitect work in more human ways.

Adaptability

When teams are built for adaptability rather than predictability and stability, great things happen.

In November 2019 I started a blog series called Adaptive Leadership Teams.

I used the analogy of Total Football to introduce the concept of teams adapting. In Total Football, any outfield player can take over the role of any other player on the team.

The aim of total football is to confuse the opponent and win the game.

“Just like soccer teams, organizations have to have adaptive leadership teams if they are to beat the opposition and win the competition.

They have to align around a common goal, perceive what is happening outside the organization and respond accordingly. Sound decisions need to be made quickly and teams will experiment to discover what works and what doesn't.

There is role fluidity and anyone can play in any position depending on what is required.

There is shared leadership with a shared purpose and widespread collaboration and innovation as a result.”

Collaboration

Teams can learn faster than individual employees alone, since teams of motivated individuals will challenge each other to come up with better, more creative ideas.

An element of my Adaptive Leadership Teams model was focussed on shared purpose and collaboration.

I also mentioned the uses of technology to enhance collaboration.

As the Deloitte report states:

The next frontier in teaming is superteams: combinations of people and technology leveraging their complementary capabilities to pursue outcomes at a speed and scale not otherwise possible.

As I stated in the article:

“Organizations now need a platform for collaboration. Employees already have the information, it just needs to be farmed and shared effectively.”

Technology tends to be viewed as a tool and enabler but should be seen as a team member and collaborator.

Collaboration- Superteams-Karen-Ferris.jpeg

Diversity

Deloitte reference Scott Page who wrote the Diversity Bonus.

The Diversity bonus results from forming teams composed of different kinds of thinkers, meaning that heterogeneous teams outperform homogenous teams at solving problems, making predictions, and developing solutions.

In my April 2020 article - “Resilience - Inclusivity” I wrote:

Including a diversity of people and thinking brings a broader knowledge base, a variety of perspectives, different cognitive mindsets and creativity.

Diversity brings variety that reduces errors and increases problem solving capability. If everyone in a team thinks the same way, errors may not be foreseen and problems will be unresolved. This is the result of groupthink.

Culture first

Way back in July 2019 I wrote two articles - Technology and New Ways of Working Will Not Be The Answer. Culture Will - Part 1 and Part 2.

The crux of the articles was that without the right culture all of the attempts to leverage leading technologies would be wasted.

“The driver and the catalyst will be culture on which these things are built.

This is a culture of active engagement and a positive employee experience.

This is a culture of learning and development, and one that promotes a growth mindset.

It is a culture that builds and sustains a resilient workforce. It is a culture of care.”

For this reason it was refreshing to read in the Deloitte report:

“…sometimes adding technology may not be the right answer, and doubling down on human capabilities may be a better approach.”

Summary

Leaders need to create the right environment in which superteams can flourish.

Set aspiration goals.
Rearchitect work and put reimagination into action
Leverage technology as a team member and collaborator
Use technology to enable employees to be the best they can be - increasing collaboration, breaking down silos, creating knowledge, and supporting continual learning.
Make the creation of superteams an enterprise wide imperative - the best thinking from HR, IT and the rest of the business.

The Deloitte hypothesis.

Superteams can give organizations the opportunity to re-architect work in more human ways, leveraging technology to elevate teams’ ability to learn, create, and perform in new ways to achieve better outcomes.

Superteams - Working in More Human Ways