MANAGEMENT SPECIAL ........The relative secret

The relative secret





TEAM BUILDING IS A SCIENCE AND THE REAL MESSAGE LIES IN EINSTEIN'S THEORY OF RELATIVITY

Enough literature is available on team management and most of the literature endorses team management as an art. People have different understanding of a 'team'. For some, a team is as good as the leader, for others, a team means 'Together Everybody Achieves More (TEAM)'. Whatever may be the definition, the success of any effort lies in the success of the unit. The unit makes or breaks an event. Mumbai's success in its current form is a great team story or, for that matter, any successful product launch is a great cohesive effort. The outcome of any task depends on the group and it has happened from Mahabharata days where Pandavas stood together as a unit and delivered as a team. Nowadays, a 100 crore movie club is a unit or team effort.From its inception to promotion, every member plays an important role to help the movie reach to its pinnacle.Team building is more of an art, but a team can also derive great learning from science. Einstein's theory of relativity in an innovative avatar facilitates the learning of team dynamics.Perhaps 'team' is a relative term and it depends on the complete ecosystem to make success look visible. In Einstein's E=MC squared, E stands for Effectiveness and if we put in this equation of relativity, effectiveness or impact is the outcome nowadays for any diligent effort.

Effectiveness depends on the product of momentum and square of 2Cs care and capability. To achieve success, momentum is very much required for a team, but if the other half is weak, the final outcome of effectiveness will be a big zero. In the world of VUCA, care and capability are pivotal. For instance, a project can never be effective until and unless care is taken to utilise the true capability of people.There are organisations where the team just vanished because momentum was not multiplied by care and capability. Care for people and to motivate them in public, develop real capability among team members. So next time when you lead a team, remember Einstein's Theory of Relativity in the above context.It will make a big difference.

Dr Ankush Sharma

--The author is COO, Vidyalankar School of Business

TAS 9DEC15