How is it possible that the Norwegian national football team can beat great football nations like Brazil, Argentina, and England?

On paper, the Norwegian team doesn't have much of a chance when we consider individual players' skills and capabilities alone.

“Is it possible that the Norwegian football team, at its best, has found a way to perform together that enables them to maximally exploit individual competence?”

This question has been posed by Professor Svein S. Andersen and Lecturer Øyvind Sæther at the Department of Leadership and Organisational Management at the Norwegian School of Management, BI.

Excel as a Group

We can find similar examples in both the public and private sectors; that the best team on paper achieves the best results, is not necessarily so.

The “best” players can risk losing themselves in individual excellence, and endless discussions of various solutions.

On the other hand, teams with a weaker foundation can solve problems more quickly and with better results than their presumably stronger competitors.

“In order to excel as a group, we have to be aware that we are a group,” point out Andersen and Sæther.
Even though it can sound a little trivial, there are enough examples that parts of an organisation live their own lives, without feeling like a part of a larger community.

“Even where it is clear to everyone that it is impossible to succeed alone, there are examples of individual players who have forgotten this simple point,” maintain the BI researchers.

Developing a Culture of Community

Andersen and Sæther are, in their research, concerned with what is required to achieve first-rate results with normal employees.

They are studying performance development and mobilisation of competence, both in sport and in business.

Their results have been presented in an article in the popular science magazine, Magma (no. 1/2008).  In their article, they launch a new model for developing a culture of performance, which builds on two main dimensions, collaboration and harmony.

Factors for Collaboration

The researchers identify five key factors to achieve collaboration.

1) We want to win together.  Firstly, employees must have both the will and ability to collaborate.  They want to learn from each other and improve each other, and they acknowledge that there is a reciprocal dependence between them.

2) Knowledge of each other.  Employees have knowledge of each other's strong and weak sides.  It is crucial to know who can be used for what.

3) Respect for expertise.

4) Respect for personal limits.

5) Can trust each other.

In addition to being able to work well together, employees must also be harmonised in their efforts.

Factors for Harmony

“Harmony between employees contributes to providing direction to the work process,” emphasise Andersen and Sæther, and point to 4 key factors for harmony:

1) Understand value creation.  It is important to have a common understanding of what we are doing, which values we are creating, and how (often called vision and business concept).

2) Understand and accept the organisation's strategy.

3) Understand one's own role in relation to strategy and plans.

4) Confidence in management.

Recipe for First-Rate Performance

Collaboration and harmony are necessary conditions for developing a performance oriented culture, but they are not enough.

Based on their studies, the BI researchers have identified two more conditions to succeed in generating first-rate results.

“Employees must have high ambitions and be oriented toward innovation and value creation, in relation to customers and the outside world,” maintain Andersen and Sæther.

In addition, all levels of management must assume an inclusive attitude toward the employees, and contribute to an active and reflected cultural development.

A performance culture is not necessarily an idyllic and harmonious utopia.  Rather, it is about strong demands and tensions, but the conflicts are most often solved for the organisations' best.

The reward is formidable.

“A performance culture invigorates and motivates employees.  It gives them direction, and gets employees to perform beyond what we can reasonably expect and demand,” concludes the research team.

Kick-off for Changing Culture

“The work in developing collaboration and harmony must be anchored with the employees, who must be made responsible.  Here, business has much to learn from sport,” point out the organisational researchers.

In sport, the players assume the main role in the evaluation process.

Evaluations are based on systematic experiences from training and competitions.  Based on these experiences, they develop the ability and will to work together, an understanding of each other's strong and weak sides, as well as reciprocal trust and respect.

Evaluations comprise both the team as a whole and individual efforts.  Adjusted goals and roles are anchored both with the team and with the individual.

“Constructive feedback is an important condition for developing competence, yet it seems to be a particularly weak point for Norwegian businesses.”

References:

Andersen, Svein S. and Sæther, Øyvind (2008): “Mobilising Competence to Develop Performance”.  Magma no. 1/2008 (published by Fagbokforlaget).

By: Audun Farbrot, Special Advisor Research Communication