C A S E S T U D Y

With a group of talented, hard-working people, why isn't thisteam working^

The Team That Wasn't

by Suzy Wetlaufer

The last thing Eric Holt had ex-pected to miss about New York Citywas its sunrises. Seeing one usu-ally meant he had pulled anotherall nighter at the consulting firmwhere, as a vice president, he hadmanaged three teams of manufactur-ing specialists. But as he stood onthe balcony of his new apartment inthe small Indiana city that was nowhis home, Eric suddenly felt a pangof nostalgia for the way the dawnplays off the skyscrapers of Manhat-tan. In the next moment, though, helet out a sardonic laugh. The dawnlight was not what he missed aboutNew York, he realized. What hemissed was the feeling of accom-plishment that usually accompaniedthose sunrises.

An all-nighter in New York hadmeant hours of intense work with acadre of committed, enthusiasticcolleagues. Give and take. Humor.Progress. Here, so far anyway, thatwas unthinkable. As the director ofstrategy at FireArt, Inc., a regionalglass manufacturer, Eric spent all histime trying to get his new team tomake it through a meeting without

the tension level becoming unbear-able. Six of the top-level managersinvolved seemed determined to turnthe company around, but the sev-enth seemed equally determined tosabotage the process. Forget cama-raderie. There had been three meet-ings so far, and Eric hadn't even beenable to get everyone on the same sideof an issue.

Eric stepped inside his apartmentand checked the clock: (inly threemore hours before he had to watchas Randy Louderbaek, FireArt'scharismatic director of sales andmarketing, either dominated thegroup's diseussion or withdrew en-tirely, tapping his pen on the table toindicate his boredom. Sometimes hewithheld information vital to thegroup's debate; other times he coollydenigrated people's comments. Still,Eric realized. Randy held the groupin such thrall because of his dynam-ic personality, his almost legendarypast, and his close relationship withFireArt's CEO that he could not beignored. And at least once duringeach meeting, he offered an insightabout the industry or the company

22 DRAWINGS BY DAVID CROLAND

C A S E S T U D Y

that was so perceptive that Erieknew he shouldn't he ignored.

As be prepared to leave for the of-fice, Eric felt the familiar frustrationthat had started building during theteam's first meeting a month earlier.It was then that Randy had first in-sinuated, with what sounded like ajoke, tbat he wasn't cut out to bea team player. "Leaders lead, follow-ers...please pipe down!" had heenhis exact words, although he hadsmiled winningly as he spoke, andthe rest of the group had laughedheartily in response. No one in thegroup was laughing now, though,least of all Eric.

FireArt, Inc., was in trouble-notdeep trouble, but enough for itsCEO, Jack Derry, to make strategicrepositioning Eric's top and onlytask. Tbe company, a family-ownedmaker of wine goblets, beer steins,asbtrays, and other glass noveltieshad succeeded for nearly 80 years asa high-quality, high-price producer,catering to hundreds of Midwesternclients. It traditionally did big busi-ness every foothall season, sellingcommemorative knickknacks to thefans of teams such as the FightingIrish, the Wolverines, and the Gold-en Gophers. In the spring, tbere wasalways a rush of demand for seniorprom items-champagne gohlets em-blazoned with a school's name orbeer mugs witb a school's crest, forexample. Fraternities and sororitieswere steady customers. Year afteryear, FireArt showed respectahle in-creases at the top and bottom lines,posting $86 million in revenues and$3 million in earnings three yearsbefore Eric arrived.

In tbe last 18 months, tbough,sales and earnings had flattened.Jack, a grandnephew of tbe compa-ny's founder, tbought be knew wbatwas happening. Until recently, largenational glass companies had heenable to make money only throughmass production. Now, however,thanks to new technologies in tbeglassmaking industry, tbose compa-nies could execute short runs prof-itably. They had hegun to enterFireArt's niche. Jack had told Eric,and, witb their superior resources, itwas just a matter of time before theywould own it.

"You bave (me responsibility asFireArt's new director of strategy,"Jack had said to Eric on his first day."That's to put together a team of ourtop people, one person from each di-vision, and bave a comprehensiveplan for the company's strategic re-alignment up, running, and winningwitbin six months."

Eric had immediately compiled alist of the senior managers from bu-man resources, manufacturing, fi-nance, distribution, design, and mar-keting, and had set a date for the firstmeeting. Then, drawing on his yearsas a consultant who bad worked al-most solely in team environments,Eric had carefully prepared a struc-ture and guidelines for the group'sdiscussions, disagreements, and de-cisions, which he planned to proposeto tbe members for their input he-fore tbey began working together.

Successful groups are part art, partscience, Eric knew, but be also be-lieved that witb every memher's fullcommitment, a team proved tbeadage that the whole is greater tbantbe sum of its parts. Knowing tbatmanagers at FireArt were unaccus-tomed to tbe team process, however,Eric imagined he might get some re-sistance from one or two members.

For one, he had heen worriedahout Ray LaPierre of manufactur-ing. Ray was a giant of a man whobad run tbe furnaces for some 35years, following in his father's foot-steps. Altbough he was a formerhigh school foothall star who wasknown among workers in the facto-ry for his hearty laugh and his love ofpractical jokes, Ray usually didn'tsay much around FireArt's execu-tives, citing his lack of higher educa-tion as the reason. Eric bad thoughtthe team atmosphere might intimi-date him.

Eric had also anticipated a bit of afight from Maureen Turner of the de-sign division, who was known tocomplain that FireArt didn't appre-ciate its six artists. Eric had expectedthat Maureen migbt have a chip on

Suzy Wetlaufer is a Boston-basedwriter. Formerly, she was with Bain&) Company, where she workedwith manufacturing clients onstrategy formulation.

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW Novt-mbtT-December 1994 23

E 5 T U D Y

her shoulder about eollaboratingwith people who didn't understandthe design process.

Ironically, both those fears hadproved groundless, but another,more difficult problem had arisen.The wild card had turned out to beRandy. Eric had met Randy once be-fore the team started its work andhad found him to be enormously in-telligent, energetic, and good-hu-mored. What's more. Jack Derry hadconfirmed his impressions, tellinghim that Randy "had the best mind"at FireArt. It was also from Jack thatEric had first learned of Randy'shardscrabble yet inspirational per-sonal history.

Poor as a child, he had worked as asecurity guard and short-order cookto put himself through the state col-lege, from whieh he graduated withtop honors. Soon after, he startedhis own advertising and market re-search firm in Indianapolis, andwithin the decade, he had built itinto a company employing 50 peopleto service some of the region's mostprestigious accounts. His successbrought with it a measure of fame:articles in the local media, invita-tions to the statehouse, even an hon-orary degree from an Indiana busi-ness college. But in the late 1980s,Randy's firm suffered the same fateas many other advertising shops, and

If Randy can't help you,no one can," CEO Jack

Derry had told Eric.

he was forced to declare bankruptcy.FireArt considered it a coup when itlanded him as director of marketing,since he had let it be known that hewas offered at least two dozen otherjobs. "Randy is the future of thiscompany," Jack Derry had told Eric."If he can't help you, no one can. Ilook forward to hearing what a teamwith his kind of horsepower cancome up with to steer us away fromthe mess we're in."

Those words eehoed in Erie'smind as he sat, with increasing anxi-ety, through the team's first and sec-ond meetings. Though Eric had

planned an agenda for each meetingand tried to keep the discussions ontrack, Randy always seemed to finda way to disrupt the process. Timeand time again, he shot down otherpeople's ideas, or he simply didn'tpay attention. He also answeredmost questions put to him withmaddening vagueness. "I'll have myassistant look into it when he getsa moment," he replied when oneteam member asked him to listFireArt's five largest customers."Some days you eat thebear, and other daysthe bear eats you," hejoked another time,when asked why salesto fraternities had re-cently nose-dived.

Randy's negativism,however, was coun-tered by occasionalcomments so insightful that theystopped the conversation eold orturned it around entirely - com-ments that demonstrated extraordi-nary knowledge about competitorsor glass technology or customers'buying patterns. The help wouldn'tlast, though; Randy would quicklyrevert to his role as team renegade.

The third meeting, last week, hadended in chaos. Ray LaPicrre, Mau-reen Turner, and the distributiondirector, Carl Simmons, had each

planned to present cost-cutting proposals, and atfirst it looked as thoughthe group were makinggood progress.

Ray opened the meet-ing, proposing a plan forFireArt to cut through-

put time by 3% and raw-materialscosts by 2%, thereby positioning thecompany to compete better on price.It was obvious from his detailedpresentation that he had put a lot ofthoLigbt into his comments, and itwas evident that he was fighting acertain amount of nervousness as hemade them.

"I know I don't have the booksmarts of most of you in this room,"he had begun, "but here goes any-way." During his presentation, Raystopped several times to answerquestions from the team, and as hewent on, his nervousness trans-

formed into his usual ebullience."That wasn't so bad!" he laughed tohimself as he sat down at the end,flashing a grin at Eric. "Maybe wecan turn this old ship around."

Maureen Turner had followedRay. While not disagreeing withhim - she praised his comments, infact - she argued that FireArt alsoneeded to invest in new artists,pitching its competitive advantagein better design and wider variety.Unlike Ray, Maureen had made this

Ironically, the peopleEric thought would beproblems v^eren't.Randy vs as the problem.

case to FireArt's top executivesmany times, only to be rebuffed, andsome of her frustration seepedthrough as she explained her reason-ing yet again. At one point, her voicealmost broke as she described howhard she had worked in her first tenyears at FireArt, hoping that some-one in management would recognizethe creativity of her designs. "But noone did," she recalled with a sadshake of her head. "That's why whenI was made director of the depart-ment, I made sure all the artists wererespected for what they are - artists,not worker ants. There's a differ-ence, you know." However, just aswith Ray LaPierre, Maureen's com-ments lost their defensiveness as thegroup members, with the exceptionof Randy, wbo remained impassive,greeted her words with nods of en-couragement.

By the time Carl Simmons of dis-tribution started to speak, the moodin the room was approaching buoy-ant. Carl, a quiet and meticulousman, jumped from his seat and prac-tically paced the room as he de-scribed his ideas. FireArt, he said,should play to its strength as a ser-vice-oriented company and restruc-ture its trucking system to increasethe speed of delivery. He describedhow a similar strategy had beenadopted with excellent results at hislast job at a ceramics plant. Carl had

24 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW NovcmbcT December 1994

joined FireArt just six months earli-er. It was when Carl hegan to de-scribe those results in detail thatRandy brought the meeting to an un-pleasant halt hy letting out a loudgroan. "Let's just do everything, whydon't we, including redesign thekitchen sink!" be cried with mockenthusiasm. That remark sent Carlback quickly to his seat, where behalfheartedly summed up his com-ments. A few minutes later, he ex-cused himself, saying he had anothermeeting. Soon the others made ex-cuses to leave, too, and the room be-came empty.

No wonder Eric was apprehensiveabout the fourtb meeting. He wastherefore surprised wben he enteredtbe room and found tbe whole group,save Randy, already assemhled.

Ten minutes passed in awkwardsmall talk, and, looking from face toface, Eric could see bis own frustra-tion reflected. He also detected anedge of panic - just what he hadhoped to avoid. He decided he had toraise tbe topic of Randy's attitudeopenly, but just as he started. Randyambled into the room, smiling. "Sor-ry, folks," he said lightly, holding upa cup of coffee as if it were explana-tion enough for his tardiness.

"Randy, I'm glad you're here," Er-ic hegan, "hecause I think today weshould hegin hy talking ahout thegroup itself-"

Randy cut Eric off with a small,sarcastic laugh. "Uh-oh, I knew thiswas going to happen," he said.

Before Eric could answer, RayLaPierre stood up and walked over toRandy, bending over to look him inthe eye.

"You just don't care, do you:" hebegan, his voice so angry it startledeveryone in the room.

Everyone except Randy. "Quitethe contrary-I care very much," heanswered hreezily. "I just don't he-lieve this is how change should hemade. A hrilliant idea never cameout of a team. Brilliant ideas comefrom brilliant individuals, wbo theninspire others in the organization toimplement them."

"That's a lot of hull," Kay shotback. "You just want all the creditfor the success, and you don't wantto share it with anyone."

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C A S E S T U D Y

"That's absurd," Randy laughedagain. "I'm not trying to impressanyone here at FircArt. I don't needto. I want this company to succeedas much as you do, but I believe, andI believe passionately, that groupsare useless. Consensus means medi-ocrity. I'm sorry, but it docs."

"But you haven't even tried toreach consensus with us," Maureeninterjected. 'Tt's as if you don't carewhat we all have to say. We can'twork alone for a solution - we needto understand each other. Don't yousee that?"

The room was silent as Randyshrugged his shoulders noncommit-tally. He stared at the tahle, a blankexpression on his face.

It was Eric who broke the silence."Randy, tbis is a team. You arepart of it," he said, trying to catchRandy's eye without success. "Per-haps we should start again-"

Randy stopped him hy holding uphis cup, as if making a toast. "Okay,look, I'll behave from now on," hesaid. The words held promise, buthe was smirking as he spoke them-somctbing no one at the tablemissed. Eric took a deep breath be-fore he answered; as much as hewanted and needed Randy Louder-back's help, be was suddenly struckby the thought that perhaps Randy'spersonality and his past experiencessimply made it impossible for him toparticipate in the delicate process of

ego surrender that any kind of team-work requires.

"Listen, everyone, I know this is achallenge," Eric began, but he wascut short by Randy's peneil-tappingcm the table. A moment later, RayLaPierre was standing again.

"Forget it. This is never going towork. It's just a waste of time for allof us," he said, more resigned thangruff. "We're all in this together, orthere's no point." He headed for thedoor, and before Eric eould stop him,two others were at bis heels.

HBR's cases are derived from theexperiences of real companies andreal people. As written, they arehypothetical, and the names usedare fictitious.

Why Doesn't This Team Work?

Seven experts discuss what teamwork takes.

ION R. KATZENBACH is a directorof McKinsey &) Company and co-author, with Doughi.s K. Smith, ofThe Wisdom of Teams: Creating theHigh-Performanee Organization(Harvard Business School Press,1993. HarperCollins, 1994). Theirvideo. The Discipline of Teams, waspublished by Harvard BusinessSchool Management Productions.

Eric has his hands full with thisteam, particularly with Randy. Infact, a skeptic might well advise Ericto throw in the towel now hecause it

Real teams do not have to getalong. They have to get thingsaccomplished.

is elear that Randy can-and might-destroy the team for good. But thereare other factors hindering this teambesides Randy, and unless Eric rec-ognizes and addresses them, theteam will not make progress, what-ever its makeup.n\There is no evidence of a commoncommitment to a team purpose ora working approach. Eric is tryingvaliantly to hold the members to anagenda based on the CEO's charge:"to have a comprehensive plan forstrategic realignment." At best,that's a vague directive. Consequent-ly, the members do not understand

the implications of tbose words,draw any meaningful focus fromthem, or recognize any need to worktogether to make "strategic realign-ment" a performance reality.\I\The "rules of the road" are ex-tremely unclear. While the team hasa good mix of skills and experience,tbe members do nut know how eachis expected to eontribute, how theywill work together, what they willwork on together, how the meetingswill be conducted, or how each per-son's "nonteam" responsibilitieswill be handled.

riEric's consultant "team" experi-ence is misleading. In the past, Eriewas really a part of a consultant"workinggroup," which is complete-ly different from a team. For onething, consultants generally haveprior experience dealing with theclient assignments they obtain. Foranother, consultant working groupsexpect to have leaders,- they're usu-ally formed with the understandingthat one person knows best how toaccomplish the task at hand effi-ciently with minimal risk. Finally,most of the real work in such a

26 PORTRAITS BY CHUCK MORRIS