Valley Crossing

The picture shown below is the classical example of team work.

But is it just a team work or something else is also needed to perform the task?  Which other managerial skills, do we need in this exercise of Valley crossing?

Probably, we have never thought in detail about it. We usually get content with the concept of teamwork.

Teamwork

 

Teamwork can lead to better decisions. It helps in finding solutions quickly.It makes any impossible thing, possible.

The quality of teamwork may be measured by analyzing the following six components of collaboration among team members: communication, coordination, balance of member contributions, mutual support, effort, and cohesion.

Well, no doubt, this is the essence of this exercise. But, if we investigate it further, we will find that it holds some very interesting management lessons inside it. The skills of problem solving, approaching the problem in right direction, decision making, interdependence, importance of effective communication, structuring the team, planning and execution are just some of  those!!!

Analysis and steps to execute this task

The problem statement is pretty self-explanatory from the picture. I don’t want get into much detail about problem statement rather than in its solution.

We can see that there are three persons crossing the valley safely without any trouble. It became possible only due to teamwork, which made this impossible task possible. This is the beauty of team work, the MAGIC works in this way.

This can be easily depicted using this model.

 

 

1. All three members have equal distribution of risks.
   
   High Risk     01 times 
   Half Risks     02 times 
   Fully Safe     02 times
2.  All members have the same role in terms of effort and risk. Nobody is overloaded or relaxed.
3. Proper communication and feedback is essential while working in a team.
4. Every member is indispensable in completing the task.
5. There are equal instances when one needs others support.

     The solution may seem simple enough, what we must not forget is the risk associated with it. We don’t know that all three persons are capable enough to cross the valley using the bamboo. We have no idea about the surface of the bamboo. If it is very slippery, one can’t grip it properly.

Whatever may be the situation, it is manager’s responsibility to make a right decision. Thus, before making any solution, it is most important to study all options, and risk associated with them. This makes the decision making an extremely important trait in corporate sector. An unwisely taken decision without complete analysis might lead to awry result.

    Managerial lessons learnt from this exercise:

    Responsibility sharing

Everyone must contribute in the process of crossing the valley and should take the responsibility that best suits to his/her skill sets. Similarly, in any organization, every member, be it the upper level manager, or a frontline manager or even a worker need to be responsible towards the organization. An individual shows his/her responsibility in his/her dedication to the work and justifies the significance of the work undertaken. If everyone takes the responsibility of the task provided seriously, the other person can do his/her work independently without worrying the fact that the remaining work would be done properly or not! Obviously, there is no "I" in the team.

Trust Factor

At any point of time, the valley crossing exercise must not get completely unsafe for any of the involved members. It is important, as if there is no trust among the team members, the efforts put in might just be futile. 

When the person is being sent to the other end of the valley, he must have trust enough that people behind him won't let him fall. Similarly, the last person must have enough trust that he won't be left behind. If any of them can't have this trust, the job might not be completed.  An individual can’t do the whole task independently. If the first person would not be willing to go ahead, and the last one would not put the complete efforts due to fear that he might be left behind, the job could not be completed.

In an organization as well, this holds very true. If managers can't trust the workers for doing their work, and vice-versa (Theory X type Manager), the workplace would not remain the motivating place to work.

 Proper Coordination

Coordination is the act of organizing, making different people or things work together for a goal or effect to fulfil desired goals in an organization. Coordination is a managerial function in which different activities of the business are properly adjusted and interlinked.

Coordination plays a vital role in the valley crossing exercise. As if the coordination fails at any point, all other factors discussed above will fail. Even if the persons are responsible, and have full trust on each member, this will be of no use, if the coordination fails among them.

In any organization, there is a large number of people involved, who need to work with each other. Thus, coordination assumes even more important role.Coordination is the important factor which made crossing possible. The same thing happens in any organization. The task is generally divided into the subtasks. People work on these subtasks and finally the whole task is completed. If there is no proper coordination among the employees, it might cause unexpected delay.

Equal importance of each individual

Everyone is equal in this exercise of valley crossing. All three members involved are equally important. No one is favoured over others. As already explained, the role for everyone are clearly defined, and everyone is responsible for their respective roles in the team. Everyone has equal roles and responsibilities.

Why is it so much important? It is a manager's job to get the result in best possible way with available resources and man-power. There is never a choice about what type of workers he/she gets to work with in any organization.

In the end I would like to say that no matter whatever task you have to make successful, the most important factors are trust, proper communication, coordination and responsibility.