“Turf War”
A predictable experience for top teams, but is it inevitable?
For 18 months I worked with the regional top team of a financial services organisation. Individuals in the team report to a local CE and functionally to bosses elsewhere in the world.
Our work has been to develop a high performing local executive team coordinating efforts in pursuit of a local integrated strategy. We have been focusing on things that you probably would expect: creating a compelling shared vision, developing trusting relationships, the capacity to handle conflict, holding one another to account, taking shared responsibility for the whole system, driving for results. We have worked on identifying and solving some recurring sources of tension, team behavioural norms, cycles of team meetings, meeting agendas, the ongoing disciplines of working on the health of the team as well as on the tasks of the team.
Despite good progress, ongoing interpersonal tension within the team continued to be shared behind the scenes. I was hearing frustrations explained and attributed to personalities. At one level this is nothing unusual, but with a group of individuals who are fundamentally decent and capable, how is it that these tensions can persist in top teams?
At one of our meetings, we took stock of the health of the team and I offered a way in which the apparent interpersonal tensions could be considered differently, openly and more safely. I started with Barry Oshry’s systemic framework describing predictable patterns of behaviour and relationship vulnerabilities amongst lead teams. I mapped out on a whiteboard the predictable systemic sequence of events to which top teams are vulnerable. It goes like something this:
Top teams operate in a complex challenging world. They start by feeling collectively responsible for the whole but to cope they sensibly adapt by “differentiating”, dividing up areas of responsibility: Marketing, Sales, Finance, Operations etc.”
Over time a “sclerosis” sets in a hardening of the boundaries of responsibility. They become increasingly responsible for their own differentiated area and less responsible for the whole. Over time boundaries harden and silos form.
A “Mine” mentality develops. They become more concerned about protecting their territory than being in partnership for responsibility of the whole. This is mine, that’s yours and I don't want you meddling in mine. They become less knowledgeable about one another’s territory and have less empathy for one another’s issues and concerns.
They are now vulnerable to relationship challenges and “Turf War” issues of:
Status and significance – Who pulls their weight more? Who’s more important than others?
Respect and resentment – Do we feel we get the acknowledgement we deserve or resent the absence of it?
Trust – Do we trust one another to get on and deliver in our areas of differentiated responsibility?
Support – Who feels they are left alone to struggle with no support from others?
Control – We struggle over strategic directions and speed of travel, use of resources, policies, whether to uphold traditions or change. We take polarised and fixed positions on issues. We get stuck.
These “Turf War” symptoms have organisational consequences such as reinforcing silos / redundant or ineffective use of resources / confusing and conflicting messages / lack of collaboration / reduced innovation and adaptability.
The impact on this team was immediate and powerful: “OMG that is so what has been going on here!” was the first comment. As the team discussed their experiences through this systemic frame it became clear that they had found a way to discuss interpersonal tensions and frustrations more safely than before because they had a way of making sense of this, that it was not personal.
Their discussion brought out the reality of tensions between team members because of unclear role boundaries, that some felt unheard and undervalued, even sidelined. They had a more honest dialogue than ever. They are now sharing more issues that they previously felt vulnerable about, they are collaborating more on cross-organisational agendas and continue to be more open to input from colleagues on their areas. It's a work in progress.
I frequently work with teams and individual leaders who are working through tensions that feel so very personal. Sometimes Top Team issues are personal but more often than not there is a systemic explanation and it is helpful to look at the systemic possibilities as they offer options that keep teams in more productive partnership with one another rather than in conflict.
Oshry’s Human Systems theory offers top teams a helpful heads-up to predictable team vulnerabilities, which will likely feel deeply personal but are systemic in nature. If top teams are aware of the relationship vulnerability they are exposed to then they can choose to pursue protective strategies such as:
Create and hold a compelling shared vision: keep it fresh and live. Don’t assume. Revisit it.
Share high-quality information: with top team colleagues. Especially things that might feel vulnerable in your area of responsibility so that the team can own more responsibility for the whole.
Interchange-ability: understand each other’s worlds by spending time in them.
Mutual mentoring: invest time in peers – support, challenge, develop one another, hold one another to account.
Shifting partnerships: Intentionally “play” with colleagues who aren’t the obvious or familiar playmates.
Develop personal system awareness: Tune in to what is and is not right in the organisation. Consider how you bring others to be aware of what is happening in the system.
From my experience here are some practical things to try:
Grab a colleague for coffee / lunch. Make it a habit.
Simple peer reporting structure at meetings: eg. “All OK” / “problem but have a strategy” / “problem no strategy” - allows colleagues to focus on where they need to support you most.
Never start a sentence with “No”, “But”, “However”.
Partner on projects with less obvious colleagues.
Take a project lead on something beyond your functional expertise.
“Cycles of experience”, move leaders around the organisation, take secondments, gain wider system perspective and empathy for one another.
Exercise commitment and courage to name “elephants“ in the room – critical team issues that are not being faced.
So what?
It matters to me that organisations are healthy, effective and productive, that people have the most satisfying experience of work that they can have. This drives my professional work.
I want to raise awareness of our vulnerability to predictable, but so often unseen, unproductive systemic dynamics of which “Top Turf War” is one.
I invite you to turn on your “Turf War” radars. See what you notice:
Where do you experience Turf War symptoms?
What are the system consequences of these to you, the team, and the organisation?
What strategies do you and the team use to guard against them?
What new strategies could you experiment with?
References:
Seeing Systems – unlocking the mysteries of organizational life. Author Barry Oshry. (Berrett – Koehler)
Leading Systems – Lessons from the Power Lab. Author Barry Oshry . (Berrett – Koehler)