NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Jan 30, 2014) - The Human Capital Institute (HCI), the global institution for strategic talent management, today announced the release of its latest research, "The New Organizational Currency: Designing Effective Teams," conducted with research partner Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions. As more companies increase their use of and reliance on organizational teams to meet their goals, a significant challenge remains: how can they best leverage the skills and talents of those teams to reach company objectives?
Many factors currently at play in the workforce, such as changing demographics, an increasing number of remote employees, continued globalization and the advancement of social technologies, have caused a shift in business objectives and the way in which goals are accomplished. In light of these changes, organizations now increasingly rely on teams to bring together new ideas, filter suggestions and accelerate progress. However, as workforces become increasingly dispersed and schedules become more flexible, there has been a rise in virtual teams, which has resulted in new challenges when trying to build effective work teams.
"As the workforce continues to evolve and employees increasingly work in different locations and at different times than their colleagues, it raises serious concerns about how organizations can continue to foster effective teams," said Liane Davey, vice president, Team Solutions of Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions. "In our new research, we aimed to uncover the challenges organizations face in building successful teams, whether face-to-face or remote, and offer effective strategies for building effective teams that contribute to goal achievement and ensure future success."
In conducting the research, HCI and Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions distributed an online survey to more than 255 HR professionals, ranging from individual contributors to C-level executives. Based on this quantitative survey data, along with interviews with thought leaders and secondary research, there are several key findings:
- Significant room for improvement: Although 92 percent of respondents view teams as critical to organizational success, only 23 percent consider their own teams to be very effective. Moreover, one-third of respondents reported that their immediate team leader is not effective at managing the critical processes, goals and team members, further highlighting the need for a new approach to team building and management.
- More remote workers than ever before: As the number of employees who telecommute increases, so does the use of virtual teams. Half of all respondents suggested that they work with virtual teams half of the time or more often.
- No differences in effectiveness of virtual teams: Despite some perceived challenges of virtual teams, the study found that effective virtual work teams are not significantly different from face-to-face teams. In both situations, the ability to listen well, be receptive to feedback and act as a problem solver were the most frequently listed attributes critical for effectiveness.
- Top challenges for team members: The study revealed the top challenges in building successful teams to be poor communication and a lack of clearly defined roles and responsibilities.
- The best ways to address team challenges: To address work team challenges, a best practices approach includes identifying a common team goal, developing open communication and clarifying roles and responsibilities.
"Distance, work styles, leadership and cultural differences are just a few of the many factors that impact the effectiveness of organizational teams," said Carl Rhodes, HCI chief executive officer. "In order to leverage the skills and enhanced productivity a team can provide, leaders must be able to both identify the barriers preventing team effectiveness and figure out how they can best address those challenges. Once they do, they can create and maintain productive teams -- no matter the challenges they face -- that will help to advance the company's goals and bring improved results."
A complimentary copy of "The New Organizational Currency: Designing Effective Teams" can be accessed at: http://www.hci.org/hr-research/new-organizational-currency-designing-effective-teams-0.
In addition, HCI and Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions will present the findings from this research in an upcoming webinar, titled "The New Organizational Currency: Designing Effective Teams," on Thursday, January 30, 2014 at 3:00 p.m. EST. Additional information, including registration details, can be accessed at: http://www.hci.org/lib/new-organizational-currency-designing-effective-teams.
About Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions
Knightsbridge is a human capital solutions firm that truly integrates the expertise of finding, developing, and optimizing an organization's people to deliver more effective solutions that maximize their investments in people and deliver better performance.
Today, organizations need a different kind of human capital partner; one with a broad perspective to solve their increasingly complex human capital challenges. Knightsbridge was created from its inception to be different, by bringing together teams of specialists with an integrated perspective across recruitment, leadership and organizational development, learning, and career and workforce management. These specialists challenge assumptions and work as a team to diagnose the underlying issues limiting organizational performance. The result is more objective advice and effective solutions that are customized and implemented to fully meet a client's specific needs achieving greater people and team productivity.
Knightsbridge works with clients across North America, the UK and Australia. We have strategic alliances with Career Star Group for career transition services and Amrop, the world's largest executive search network.
www.knightsbridge.com
About Human Capital Institute (HCI)
HCI is the global association for strategic talent management and new economy leadership, and a clearinghouse for best practices and new ideas. Our network of expert practitioners, Fortune 1000 and Global 2000 corporations, government agencies, global consultants and business schools contribute a stream of constantly evolving information, the best of which is organized, analyzed and shared with members through HCI communities, research, education and events. For more information, please visit www.hci.org.