At the first meeting with a director, I almost always hear: „We have a great team." Usually accurate. What doesn't always follow is the conclusion: „And so we're effective."
A great team is a real asset. But talent on its own doesn't produce results. Results come from talent inside a supporting system. If the system isn't there, talent does good things — but they don't connect. The company ends up with five excellent contributions that don't sum to one excellent company.
A case from practice
A company with fifteen people. The salesperson sells well. The project manager leads projects well. The bookkeeper does her work well. The director has a sense something's off, but can't say what.
A conversation reveals: the salesperson promises delivery dates the project manager can't always keep. The project manager over-loads the development team. The bookkeeper fixes late invoices because the salesperson didn't finalise contracts in time. Everyone does well. Together they do poorly.
The problem isn't the people. The problem is the absence of rules for how their outputs add up.
What a system does that talent can't do alone
The system defines:
- what needs to be in place before one function calls the next
- what happens when a promise isn't met
- who has the last word when interests diverge
- what gets measured and how often
These aren't bureaucratic requirements. They're agreements that let talent act without constantly re-judging. Less friction, more output.
Why it's hard to install
Because it asks the director for something the day rarely allows: a quiet hour. One hour a week that isn't about today, it's about structure. When that gets replaced with „next week" and „next month", the system never gets built.
And the team stays good while the company stops becoming effective.
A good first step
Not writing handbooks. Writing down the five most frequent misunderstandings between functions. Eighty percent of lost effectiveness is hiding in there.
Only then does the system begin.
O avtorici
mag. Martina Šavron
Svetovalka in mentorica za stabilizacijo ekip, procesov in odgovornosti v malih in srednjih podjetjih. Z več kot 27 leti izkušenj pri vodenju, organizaciji in odločanju.