Begin forwarded message:
From: Halltennis@aol.com
Subject: Peter Small’s offer
Date: June 21, 1997 at 10:23:58 EDT
To: joe@joe10.com
Joe:
Yes. It is a good idea. Like many good ideas, it is mostly good as an idea,
not an action.
It can be done, IF:
1) one person makes the decisions and they are (rightfully) respected by
everyone
else.
2) someone else can do the cost estimates, but that one person has to be able
to bounce them back for revisions.
3) someone else can do the work program proposal, but that one person has to
be able to say yes or no to its content.
4) someone else…etc, etc, but one person has to be etc, etc.A team can do a lot to make an enterprise go, but it has to have a manager.
If a manager cannot say the final Yes or No, she is not a manager–only a
chairperson.About half of marriages lead ultimately to divorce. About half of the new
profit making businesses fail. Most such failures are not because of
incompetence, but from poor information, poor judgement, venality, peripheral
ignorance, and the unintended outcomes of the best thought-out activities.I believe that Team Methods can work. Leadership can make it work. The
rules have to be clear–even when unstated or simply implicit. No one should
get her entire income from a single Team’s activity. One leader who leads.
Example:
Team Leader Announcement: “I have a tentative committment from a corporation
to buy a whatisit project at a price that looks like a cost-plus deal for the
team that produces it. I am assembling a team to do the job. We have to
meet face to face. If you are interested, etc.”Unfortunately, not everyone who thinks he is a leader, a potential team
leader (and can you imagine someone who thinks he/she is NOT a potential Team
Leader?) really is. I find that difficult, yet I suspect that in any given
situation, at least 50 percent (half) of us are (is?) not the right person
for the task. Now that’s a real downer.Democratic election is not the answer. Command of resources is. Control of
the contract is. The Golden Rule: he who has the gold rules.
L–h.
