The most successful teams in sports are those that truly play together as a team. Effective teamwork typically delivers a successful outcome.
That is also true for a team in a business context. When all are working together for a common purpose, successfully combining different skills, there is a much better chance to achieve success.
Here is one key distinction between the sports and business worlds: We want the referee/umpire/official to treat everyone the same and make consistent decisions so they cannot be accused of favoring one team or a particular individual. So, why do we often train our teams as individuals?
In my (many!) years of professional experience, I have seen that we achieve far more effective and consistent outcomes if we train together as a team.
In the world of governance, risk, compliance, security, audit and assurance, it is essential that we work in a professional and consistent way. It is essential that our messaging is consistent. Inconsistency equals confusion and very rarely delivers a good outcome. Furthermore, if team members are giving different advice or opinions to various stakeholders, the team’s credibility is destroyed, and the business loses confidence in the capabilities and professional judgement of the team.
Throughout my career, I have come across many situations where there has been a “professional” difference of opinion on a matter, whether that is an opinion on the:
- effectiveness of a governance process, or management control
- level of risk if a risk event should materialize
- what should be included in a policy or procedure
- whether an issue is minor or major
On a rare occasion, I have seen this escalate into a full-blown argument, in front of the business process owner. What kind of impression does that give?!
So, how do we ensure consistent practices, ways of doing things, conclusions and messaging? We train together!
Whether we are talking about governance, risk, security or audit, the goal should be to train the team together so that team members learn the same things, in the same way, and obtain a collective understanding of the subject matter. Along with providing a shared understanding, team training provides additional benefits in helping with team-building and bonding.
Team training increases the consistency of how the team operates and therefore significantly increases the chance of a consistent conclusion being made and a consistent message being given. At the same time, it decreases the chances of differences of opinion, personality clashes and contradictory messaging.
Good teamwork delivers business success and, after all, that is why we are here—to make our organization the best it can be.
Editor’s note: Find out more about enterprise training opportunities offered by ISACA here.