Some years ago, a department manager I know was in serious trouble. He was in the middle of a project to install a large printing and publishing system in a new facility. His project was a disaster. The project looked like a rugby match. Everybody was tugging at the ball, and it kept getting dropped, and everybody piled on each other trying to pick it up again! Constant confusion was the norm. It was seldom clear who was doing what, or when. Even when the department manager knew who he needed help from and what he needed them to do, he couldn't always get people when he needed them.

To complete his project, the manager needed expert help to design the new facility and to spec out the necessary equipment. But the facility engineer was always busy doing something else, and the equipment specialist already had too many irons in the fire. They kept telling him he'd have to wait.

The problem wasn't a lack of money, he had enough budget to pay for what he needed. It seemed like the problem was people. People just weren't working together. They weren't a team. In desperation, he decided they needed some teambuilding. In fact, he decided they needed lots of teambuilding!

Bringing the team together

The department manager got the project team together and they learned each other's personality types using a popular coding scheme. Then, they chartered a boat and went fishing. Under the guidance of a teambuilding expert, they went to the gym and climbed ropes together. He even planned to brave the Colorado River rapids in a rubber raft, but his boss drew the line on that one.

Teambuilding reminded them that they depend on each other for their success. And since dangerous situations showed them they could trust each other, they became comfortable with that dependency. In the process, they also got to know each other better. They developed a greater respect for each other's strengths and more tolerance for their weaknesses. They really became more than just colleagues. They became friends.

The wrong solution

But back on the project, the department manager's problems continued. An electrician agreed to have a new power regulator ready by the end of the month, but missed the deadline. He got a higher priority job from a corporate big shot, so he put the manager's project on the back burner. The electrician was open and friendly about it, so he still got along fine with the manager. Their relationship didn't suffer, but the department manager still got left high and · dry. The facility designer and equipment expert were now telling the manager they'd like to help (a big improvement), but they were busy, so he'd still have to wait.

They all thought the teambuilding exercises had been great, so how come they still weren't teaming? Looking back, I now see the department manager was trying to solve the wrong problem. Teambuilding helped them build mutual respect and trust. It also helped them get to know and like each other. But their project had problems that were rooted in bad habits, not bad vibes. They had fallen into some bad practices that were encouraged by their organization's culture.

Identifying organizational problems

Organizational culture is "the way we work around here." It typically evolves over many years without conscious thought or design, yet it's a powerful influence over our behavior. It affects everything we do, every day. If an organization's culture is healthy, it sends people signals that guide them to do the right things. But in an unhealthy culture, even capable, well-meaning people will fail. And the department manager's project was a classic example. The confusion and finger pointing on his project was symptomatic of cultural bad habits. In their unhealthy culture, a good feeling like trusting each other led to a bad behavior not hammering out clear agreements on mutual accountabilities when people joined a team.

And the manager was certainly well intentioned when he agreed to the deadline for his project. He was being responsive to the needs of his client. But fanatical devotion to responsiveness resulted in the organizational bad habit of making commitments to clients without checking with team members first. Once he made the commitment, he had to conjure up the resources to do the job. Not surprisingly, in a busy organization, his colleagues' time was already booked on other projects. His only choice was to delay the project or to do the work himself.

It wasn't that people didn't want to help. It wasn't that they didn't like each other. And it wasn't a matter of trust. It was the simple bad habit of committing for others without checking with them first.

Changing Behaviors

Even a positive attribute like customer focus can backfire when the culture evolves in an unhealthy direction. The electrician who put the department manager's project on hold in favor of a vice president thought he was doing the right thing. But by failing to meet a commitment to the department manager, he caused the manager to fail with his important client. The unhealthy culture ultimately disappointed all of their customers.

In a healthy culture, all commitments are treated equally, whether to corporate big shots or to our peers. Clearly, solving teamwork problems requires changing the behaviors of the organization, not just the feelings. Said another way, teamwork takes more than teambuilding. It takes a specific set of concrete, actionable behaviors a set of good habits that can be modeled, taught, observed and rewarded. By consciously designing the set of behaviors expected of everyone in the organization, visionary leaders are putting the power of culture to work for them, rather than hoping that friendly, capable people can overcome a culture that's working against them.

William Hagerup specializes in cultural and structural changes key components of organizational change for N. Dean Meyer & Associates (NDMA), 641 Danbury Road, Ridgefield, CT 06877. For more information, call 203-431-0029 or visit www.ndma.com.